Bloodlust
by CupcakeSprinkles14
Summary: Modern Day AU: This was him. This was my soul mate. My sire. The love of my life. I never thought I would ever see such beauty in the life I have lived, and yet here it is. It strikes me as almost sad because, in the end, this boy must die. And that is my job. I'am Katniss Everdeen, and I must kill Peeta Mellark.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: So this idea came to me very suddenly. I'm deleting two of my stories and thought maybe this one could fill one of those gaps. So, please give it a go! ^_^**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.**_

The street was empty. Deserted even. The damp pavement was dotted with puddles and a never ending dizzle of rain drained the grey clouds of its water. It was a Friday night. Everyone was either at home watching t.v or have relocated to a different District for a 'Friday Night Celebration.' No one went out on Friday nights in 12. Frankly the place was too dull and boring.

The girl walked down the street, unaware of how desolate the place was. She was new in the District, moved with her father for buisness. Her clinking heels echoed ominously around the night air, the only sound to be heard within miles. She didn't know many places to go to on a Friday night. She didn't know about the lack of places to go out to in 12. The girl was determined though. After the day she had had, she needed a drink.

Her boyfriend had dumped her for her best friend but 'still wanted to be friends' and she failed her math A-level. She was denied a retake. Just her luck. Nothing ever went her way. She attracted bad luck like a piece of metal to a magnet. No matter how many four leaf clovers she collected or amount of times she'd wear rabbit feet on a piece of rope around her neck, she was always denied some good luck.

She just wanted to die.

There was a creak behind her. She spun around but saw nothing. Just the end of the pavement in which she began walking from. Maybe it was a fox. Or a falling box. Nothing to worry about . . . she hoped. She began walking again, slightly faster this time. The clinking of her heels picked up as she moved, soon building into an eerie cresendo around the street. She didn't know what she was worrying about: It was probably nothing.

The hairs on the back of the girl's neck pricked up as she walked. It felt like there was a pair of eyes boring into the back of her head. She tried to convince herself to was a ridiculous thought but her mind countinued to worry, especially when she felt like the said watcher was getting closer. She didn't care anymore.

She ran.

She hurried around a street corner, hoping to find a newsagents or a pub where she could take refuge in but there was nothing. Just more dull buildings. She ran faster, as much as her hot pink heels would let her. Something was following her. And something told her it was going to catch her. A black shape rushed past in the corner of her eye. It was up high. Maybe on the roof of the Holland and Boyd building to her right. Her heart picked up in a frenzy, beating faster as she continued to run. The girl was ready to go into full on panic mode when she suddenly ran into a dead end.

The girl screamed in frustration and pounded the wall with her fist. What was going to happen? Was she going to be kidnapped? Murdered? _Raped?_ She should have listened to her father and stayed inside. She should have _listened_ to him.

The sound of heels approaching behind her made her spin around in fear and press herself against the wall. A dark silohuette was walking toward her, getting closer and closer. As it got closer and stopped, the girl could see them more clearly.

It was a woman with dark hair that was braided elegantly and resting over her shoulder. Her grey eyes stared at the girl with concern. She barely blinked. The girl noticed how pale she was, her skin almost matching that of her grandmother's procelin doll that she wasn't allowed to touch.

"Are you okay?" the woman asked, her blood red lips standing out on her pale face. Her voice was sweet as honey and wrapped itself around the girl like a delightful coil she didn't want loosened.

"I th-thought someone was f-f-ollowing me," the girl stuttered. The woman smiled, the gesture immediately putting the girl at ease.

"I can assure you that there is no one following you," she said. She stepped closer to the girl. "There's only me and you here." The girl looked into the woman's hynotizing grey eyes and a wave of comfort washed over her. The woman was right. There was no one following her. How ridiculous she'd been.

"You're right," the girl agreed, almost trance-like. The woman took another step closer, so close that their chests were nearly touching. The girl sucked in a breath, her eyes never leaving the woman's. The woman was so beautiful it was almost painful.

"Come with me," she said, holding her pale hand out for her take. The girl stared at it, scared that if she touched it it would break like her grandmother's porcelin did. But she slid her hand into the woman's anyway, almost as if her limbs were working of their own accord, acting on the comfort and trust she felt toward the braided woman.

The woman pulled her close. Almost as if she was intending a loving embrace. The girl wasn't attracted to women, but something told her she'd make an acception for this glorious creature. The woman's red lips turned up in a reassuring smile as she tipped the girl's chin up.

"You'll be safe with me," she said.

The girl heard something behind her. Four footsteps, almost in sync. Normally she'd panic but she was too lost in the woman's grey eyes that she didn't notice the two others coming up behind her. The braided lady's eyes flicked up at the two people behind her and nodded. The girl was suddenly pushed away, into the arms of the people behind.

She screamed and stuggled as arms wrapped around her and her head was forcefully tilted sidewards. Breath ghosted over her neck and she continued to scream. She screamed as hard as she could. The braided lady appeared in her eyeline and held her finger up to her lips. _Sssshh_, a voice cooed in her head. And she did. Her mouth fell shut and she didn't scream again.

Something sunk into her skin and sucked. Blood began to drain from her body. She grew limper and her eyes felt heavy. Her life began to slip away as more and more blood was taken from her. Her life flashed before her eyes. Her father, her boyfriend, her friend and her boyfriend seeing each other behind her back, her bad luck, her failed maths test, the mystifying woman with the braid who was the siren toward the end of her life.

She could finally die.

And she did.

~xXx~

"Well, that was different," Madge mused as Finnick dropped the dead girl to the ground. "Must have been a vegan or something, her blood was disgusting." Katniss looked at the dead body with a pang of guilt. She poked the girl's thigh with the toe of her boot and sighed.

"No 'thanks Katniss'?" she asked.

"Sorry," Madge sighed before saying, "Thanks Katniss!" in an overexaggerated grateful tone. Finnick chuckled and wiped some blood off his chin.

"What would we do without you?" he asked, matching Madge's voice.

Katniss wasn't used to this. It had been five years and she still wasn't used to it. Maybe that's what comes with being a fledgling for so long. Madge tells her that's the reason anyway. She isn't so sure.

Madge and Finnick are vampires. Their blood is entwined with the clan of 12. Katniss is their fledgling but sometimes she felt more like their assitant. She didn't drink blood; she couldn't yet. Fledglings don't drink until they become full vampires like Madge and Finnick. And that didn't happen until she located her sire.

Basically Katniss was their tracker dog. Fledglings' senses are more heighted than vampires, so it's her job to find grub for her mentors. It's not as hard as it sounds. Her mind is open to the thoughts of humans and she can hear when someone's alone and when they're not. She smells their blood when she gets close enough, to make sure it's safe. Certain things in the bloodstream can posion vampires, sort of like an allergy.

She didn't mind her job. It's what gets her advice and guidance from her two mentor/friends. It's just . . . when she sees the bodies . . . she can't help feeling like a monster. Even if she isn't the one to kill them. She's the one who leads the real monsters to them. But then again, someday she'll be like them too. Someday she'll want to drain the humans just as much as Madge and Finnick do.

"Well, I'm not full," Madge concluded, picking at her nails. The dull glow from a nearby streetlight makes her pale skin glow and glitters through her blonde hair. Madge was utterly breathtaking, even if she didn't have the raw beauty of a fledgling.

Finnick rolled his eyes and flipped the girl's dead body round so she was lying face down, a common murder position. "We can't kill anyone else," he said. "People will get suspcious."

"But I'm hungry Finn!" Madge snapped.

"Then go to the hopsital, get a pint off Cinna," I suggested. Madge sighed and tossed her hair back.

"Fine, fine, you're right," she said, holding her hands up in defeat. She paused and eyed Katniss carefully. "You find him yet?" When Katniss shook her head, Madge sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "This is getting bloody ridiculous. I swear, five years. _Five years._ You should have found him by now!"

"Give her time Madge," Finnick said, arranging the girl's hair so it temporarily hid the bite marks in her neck.

"Five years Finn!" Madge screeched. "This is going to cost us our heads!"

Katniss wanted to find her sire, she really did. For Madge and Finnick's sake. If she didn't then the council will kill them. She has already been pushing it by asking for so much extra time on the search.

Basically, when a human is turned into a fledgling, to become a full vampire they must find and drink the blood from their soul mate, their sire. The person they would have married in the future. The love of their live. Each fledgling's mind is wired up to lust for the blood of their mate. It's apparently the most delicious, glorious thing they will ever consume in their lives. Katniss didn't understand how she could ever lust over the blood of another.

Madge's soul mate wasn't that hard to find. All she did was walk into a bar one night and she was hit with the lust. She spied the man sitting at a booth, seduced him into the back alley and greedily drank him dry. Finnick told her it took him some time to find his but when he did, he claimed it was worth it. It's hard to control the lust and that's what makes it most dangerous because if you're hit by it and unable to control yourself in public then the secret would be revealed and they'd all be in jeprady.

"He's got to be _somewhere!_" Madge insisted. As the person who turned Katniss, Madge would be the most likely to get the worst of it if she doesn't find her sire. "I mean, you were hot enough when you weren't a flegd! You would have gotten married! Right!?"

"Right," Finnick confirmed. "Don't fret Madge, she'll find him."

"I don't understand why we can't just search for him!" Madge continued to rant. "I've seen too much just to die because some girl can't find her freaking sire!" Katniss laughed and shook her head. Madge's temper was comical at best. When she'd stopped complaining, she looked at Katniss with pleading eyes. "Please Kat, I don't want to die."

"I'll find him, I swear," Katniss said. "Well, I _hope_ I'll find him, I mean . . ."

"Never know, it could be a her," Finnick said, wiggling his eyebrows. Madge scoffed and hit him in the arm. "What?! It happened Clove, why wouldn't it happen Katniss?"

"Hmm, let me think," Katniss replied, pretending to be in deep thought. "Maybe because I'm not a lesbian!"

"Well, you think you're not but-" Madge hit him again and he glared at her before laughing. "Okay, okay, fine, you're not a lesbian."

"Damn right," Katniss muttered, giving him a smack of her own for good measure. Something suddenly got her attention. She wasn't sure what it was, a shift in her perception maybe. Her fledgling senses caught on to everything. She turned around in the street and tilted her head to the side. Up on the lamp post in the distance was a CCTV camera. "Fuck."

"I got it," Finnick sighed, jogging up the road. Madge dragged the deadweight body down into the corner of the street while Finnick scaled the lamp post and unwired the camera before messing with the wiring inside. Katniss couldn't help being amazed by how he could keep himself wrapped around the top of the post without using his hands in any way as he fiddled with the inside of the camera.

Someday she'd be able to do that . . .

Madge returned and slapped Katniss on the back. "So, you wanna go on a man hunt?" she asked. She batted her blonde lashes and said in a sing song voice, "Wanna find your soul mate?"

Katniss glanced back at the dead body in the corner of the street. If she didn't find her sire, that could be Madge and Finnick. She crossed her arms across her chest and sighed. "Okay," she sighed. "Let's go."

Finnick dropped off the lampost and gestured up to the fixed up camera. "Deleted the last hour of footage," he explained as they walked. "No one will suspect us in the slightest."

"They never do," Katniss replied.

She prodded her teeth with the tip of tongue. They weren't sharp at all. Someday, if they find her sire, she her teeth shall sharpen into points and she shall be able to hunt like her friends. She'll become a creature of the night and shall become one with her clan.

She wondered who her sire was. Who she would have married in the future. Was he good looking? Smart? Rich? Would he have showered her in love and romance? Would she have been happy with him? She'd never know.

Because when she finds him, she'll kill him.

_**A/N: Can anyone guess who her sire is? lol, I think you all can :-)**_

_**P.S: There may be vampires in this but it won't be sappy like Twilight. There will be death and blood and gore etc. I hate Twilight *shiver***_

_**Please R&R! :D**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: I own nothing**_

Chapter Two

"Twilight!" Madge exclaimed, picking the book off the stall and glaring at it as if she wished it would burst into flames. "What a fucking insult!" She threw the book back and marched ahead into the crowd of people. Katniss smiled apologitically at the stall owner and hurried after Madge. "I mean sparkling in the fucking sunlight, what the hell is that?! Meyer wouldn't have even had the idea for the book if she hadn't of ran into Marvel!"

Katniss nodded along, knowing it was just easier just to agree with her friend than start a fight. She didn't know the full story about Stephaine Meyer and Marvel but Madge claims it's what inspired the woman to write Twilight.

"Tigris!" Madge called, running off again and skidding to a stop in front of Tigris' stall. When they couldn't get to Cinna in the hospital, Tigris was their go to woman for some blood. "How ya doin' girl?"

"Fine," Tigris purred. The brim of her hat obscered her face, but Katniss could still see the black of her stripes across her cheeks. Tigris is a shapeshifter who perferred the body of a tiger over the body of a human. Most people think she's a circus attraction, someone who tattooed her face with stripes and got whiskers surgetically stuck into her cheeks. This, of course, is not the case. "Are you here for some more A+?"

"Nope," Madge replied, leaning against the stall counter. Katniss picked up one of the woolly tea cosies and examined the pattern on it. Tigris was also an amazing knitter.

"Then how may I help you?" Tigris asked.

"Did you see anyone roaming around here?" Madge asked. "Anyone particularly good looking? Someone who'd look like a future lover with Katniss?"

"What does a future lover of me look like?!" Katniss exclaimed.

"Let Tigris think," Madge hissed.

Tigris tilted her head and stroked her chin in deep thought. Her hand mindlessly stroked a different tea cosy. "I don't see anyone but that doesn't nessecarily mean they're not there," she said.

"I don't understand what's happening," Katniss said.

"Tigris sees millions of people pass by the stall," Madge shrugged. "I just thought she might have seen a potential 'lover'." She said the word 'lover' with a sarcastic hand gesture. "You know, someone who will make you lust for blood. Make the mighty Katniss Everdeen unravel and go nuts. You know, I wanna shake that guy's hand and say congrats."

"Pff," I scoffed. "If you have a chance."

Madge quirked an eyebrow and grinned. "Good girl, that's what I like to hear."

The blond vamp continued to chat to the shapeshifter while Katniss leant against the stall with her arms crossed. She tapped her foot impaitently, waiting for them to finish talking. Finally, they stopped and they bade their goodbyes.

"Finnick is waiting for us ontop of that building over there," Madge said, pointing up ontop of a tall building in the distance. "Get on my back."

"God, do I have to?" Katniss moaned.

"Yes, stop being so childish," Madge scolded, bending over and patting her back. Katniss sighed and clamboured onto her friend's back. Madge hooked her arms under Katniss' knees and held her tight. She then took off and ran. Running on Madge's back seems surreal. Almost like she is jogging and the world around her is what's moving fast. In no time, they were ontop of the building itself, standing beside Finnick.

"Fuck, I'm gonna barf," Katniss cursed, bending over and gagging when Madge put her back down.

"Did Tigris know anything?" Finnick asked.

"Nope," Madge sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Zelch."

Katniss cralwed to the edge of the building and swung her legs over the edge. "You guys haven't even explained to me what's going to happen to me when I see this guy," she said. Finnick sat down on her right while Madge perched on the building's edge on her left.

"What do you wanna know?" she asked.

"What will happen," Katniss answered.

"When you meet your sire you will attain the powers of a vampire to able you to catch them," Finnick explained. "You'll get it all: Speed, agility, your teeth will grow and all. You'll be overcome with the primal, animal instinct to drink, to devour this person whole."

"You might also want to cop a feel," Madge added. Finnick looked across Katniss at the blond and quirked an amused eyebrow. "What? I did. They're going to die, why does it matter?"

"Madge, I'm not going to grope them," Katniss scoffed.

"You don't know that," Madge said. "Believe me, you will. You'll feel such a rush, you'll act on your urges. I didn't think I would either but when I got that sexy guy out into that alley, my hands just wandered. And just seeing the blood pumping in his juglar-" Madge threw her head back and groaned- "Fuccckkk"

"Madge, that's disgusting," Katniss muttered.

"If it makes you feel any better I did not take advantages over my sire," Finnick said. "It happens to some but not all."

"_Most_ but not all," Madge corrected.

"Stop it, you're worrying Katniss!" Finnick hissed.

"I'm fine," Katniss replied. "I'm not a child, I can handle it."

"You, my friend, are a child until you change," Madge said, patting Katniss' arm. "Fledglings are children." Katniss glared but her friend just shrugged. "It's a fact of life."

Katniss pushed back and stood up, pacing the length of the roof. "How hard could it possibly be to find one person?!" she yelled, her voice echoing around them. "Someone who I'm acclaimed to have fallen in love with if I'm hadn't of been turned. There's _loads _of people out there and yet we can't find him . . ." Katniss trailed off and paused.

Madge and Finnick watched her carefully as she turned slowly on her heel to face them and look out into the distance. "Katniss?" Finnick asked cautiously. Katniss took a giant sniff of the air her eyes flushed deep red.

"Fuck," Madge cursed, a grin spreading across her face. "She's got him."

Katniss could smell it. Smell him. It enticed her to find him, almost begged her. She walked so that her toes were inches away from the edge of the building. Both of her friends watched her as she scanned the area for him. For the person who smelt so _good._

"Where are you," she sang to herself, a joyful smirk forming on her face.

"Find him Katniss," Madge urged, tugging on her trouser leg. "Oh god find him!"

It's the blond head that catches her eye. Pushing through the crowd of people to get to the other side of the Hob. It stands out like a sore thumb among all the dark members of the seam. She listlessly lifts her hand and points at it. "It's him," she says, almost inaudbliy. "The blond."

"We'll get him," Finnick says, pulling an excited Madge to her feet. "Follow us."

As Finnick and Madge jumped off the building, landing on their feet at the bottom and running off in such a blurr that she could barely see them, Katniss felt it. The _hunger_. It was an odd feeling. Her body was suddenly screaming for it. For the blood of whoever that blond man is. She never thought she'd ever want to drink like the other Vampires in the clan of 12 but now she did. How could one person's blood manage to do that?

She was worried about jumping off the building. Finnick had said that she'd obtain all Vampire powers once she had spotted her sire but she didn't feel any different. Apart from the obvious desperate urge to discover who is the owner of the enticing blood. In the end though, her desperation wins out and she takes a leap of faith.

It doesn't even feel like falling. In a matter of seconds, her feet have hit the ground. She landed on her feet? How did she manage to do that? Vampires are vampires, not cats like Tigris.

Katniss could just make out Madge and Finnick disappearing into an alleyway. She started to jog over to the alley but found herself moving faster than she was used to. When she stopped, she almost ran right into the wall, she had to brace herself agains the bricks before she did.

"Katniss! Over here!" Madge called. Katniss followed Madge's voice down the alley until she reached at the dead end in one of the darkest parts of the Hob. Madge stood with a giant grin on her face with the blond man at her feet, asleep. Finnick was pacing infront of them, reading a wallet.

"Peeta Mellark, seventeen-like you Katniss, lucky-works at Mellark Bakery, organ donor, etc. etc. Doesn't seem like someone you'd have ended up with Katniss," he says. "Seems too good."

"Shut up," Katniss replied, flipping him off.

"He's certainly a keeper," Madge said. "Not many blonds around here." She flipped her golden hair and smiled proudly. "Now get on with it. I'm surprised you're not freaking out yet . . . you should have started by now. Are you sure this is the guy?"

Katniss took a step toward the unconcious man and bent over. Taking one, long sniff, the smell returned. The delicious aroma that was driving her senses crazy. But there was something else. She couldn't help wondering how this would have panned out if she hadn't of been turned. How would they have met? How long would they have dated? What made him so special that she'd give him her heart?

"Katniss, hurry up," Madge urged, pushing her forward. She stumbled and fell to her knees infront of the body. The smell of blood was even more strong now that she was right beside him. Something was stopping her from doing it though. From biting into the soft skin of his neck and sucking him dry. A curiousity.

"Katniss, he'll wake up soon," Finnick warned.

"Give me a minute," Katniss hissed.

"God, she's having stage fright," Madge sighed. She leapt over the body and crouched on the other side. Carefully, she used her razor sharp fingernail to cut a small incision along the man's forearm. Katniss' eyes immediately homed in on the blood that began to seep out. It looked so tempting, so tasty, and it smelt glorious. "Drink Katniss, and become one of us." Katniss paused. She couldn't do it.

Finnick grabbed this Peeta's wrist and held it out to her. "It's okay Katniss. You'll be alright, just do it."

"It'll kill him," Katniss said. Her worrying seemed faux as her eyes focused on the vein she could see bulging out. She took the wrist into her hands and took a sniff, like a picky eater examinging their meal, before she couldn't handle it anymore and stuck her teeth in.

Within the first suck, everything rushed forward. As if the blood was the key to the secrets of her human future. They'd meet at the park. He'd be sketching on a bench beside the pond she was fishing at. She'd have walked past on her way home and notice that he'd been drawing her. They'd chat for hours before exchanging numbers. They'd date for a year and a half before he'd propose to her and she'd say yes. Her wedding dress was beautiful, better than what she could have dreamt of. They'd grow old together and he'd die before her but she would soon follow a year later.

It was perfect. It was amazing. It was what she wanted.

Katniss ripped her teeth out and gasped, jumping backwards, and crawled away into the corner. "I can't do it," she said. "I can't, I can't, I can't."

"Why the hell not!" Madge demanded. "You were doing just bloody fine!"

Katniss looked at her hands, which were covered in blood, and shuddered. "This man has a life! I can't just take it from him!"

"He won't have a life Katniss," Finnick said. "That changed the moment you were turned."

"I-I just can't," Katniss replied. "I will not be responsible for killing him."

"God damnit Katniss!" Madge shrieked. "We were so close!"

"Let him go and live his life!" Katniss yelled. "He won't do any harm! If the council want to kill someone for it then they can kill me! I cannot take a life!" The blood coating her hands was still calling to her but she did her best to ignore it.

"You're impossible!" Madge yelled. "I can't believe I turned you thinking you'd be an amazing vampire! You're really just a coward!" She spun around and marched down the alley, screaming and shrieking her head off.

"She'll be okay," Finnick says, looking at Katniss with pityful eyes. "We'll keep tabs on the guy. Just tell us when you're ready and we'll try again, okay?" Katniss nodded numbly, her eyes still drawn to the blood that was still leaking out of the teeth marks in Mr. Mellark's wrist.

Finnick followed Madge, probably hurrying to calm her down before she goes on a feeding rampage. Katniss slumped against the wall and stared at the body lying on the ground.

This was him. This was her soul mate. Her sire. The love of her life. She never thought she would ever see such beauty in the life she had lived, and yet here it is. It strikes her as almost sad because, in the end, this boy must die. And that is her job. She is Katniss Everdeen, and she must kill Peeta Mellark.

So, instead of waiting until the blond woke up so she could explain his fate to him, she did the one thing she had done her whole life.

She ran.

~xXx~

Katniss sat at the pond, skipping stones. Her thoughts were full of last night. Could she really kill someone? Someone she would have someday loved? She had always thought it was easy. Get overcome with the bloodlust and suck him dry. But the moment she laid eyes on Peeta she knew something was off. She couldn't go through with it. She couldn't end someone else's life.

It made it more difficult when she saw their futures together. She saw happiness, marriage, children, grandchildren, everything. She saw it all and it made her sad. It seemed so perfect. Everything she could have ever wanted all bundled into one. And now she couldn't have it. And she couldn't let Peeta have it either. Because he had to die.

She groaned and threw her head into her hands. This was going to more difficult than she'd anticipated. Madge had always went on like it was the easiest thing in the world. She never said that she'd see her future in the man's blood.

A page turning. Katniss sat up. Yes, that was the sound of a page turning. The soft sound of paper rubbing against each other while being turned. She discreetly looked over her shouldrer and almost fell into the pond in shock.

There he sat, sketchbook on his lap, pencil moving as he worked. Peeta Mellark. He sits the same way he did in the future prediction. Legs crossed, hand constantly moving hair out of his eyes, shoulders hunched . . . blue eyes occasionly flicking up to look at her as he worked. He was sketching her. Her.

_Her._

"What are you doing?" she asked before she could stop herself. His head jerked up in shock, his hair falling back into his eyes again. "What are you drawing?"

"N-nothing," he replied, quickly closing his book and sitting on it. Katniss smiled to herself as he stuttered. How sweet.

"It obviously wasn't nothing," she said, standing up and walking over to the bench. She was being reckless. Stupid even. She had sworn to herself that the next time she saw him, she'd kill him, not strike up a friendly chat with him. There was something about him that drew her towards him though that had nothing to do with his blood. "You looked like you were really concentrating."

"I look like that sometimes," Peeta answered, nervously sticking his pencil behind his ear. Katniss stared at him for a moment. Is it possible for eyes to be so blue? It can't be surely. While he's distracted staring back at her, she uses her newly found speed to snatch the book out from underneath him.

He'd captured her perfectly. Every stroke of the pencil, every shaded area, every single outline was so perfect it was hard to be believe that someone could capture her so beautifully. He made her look like she wasn't of this earth. Too beautiful to be human. Even if she wasn't human it was amazing to think that someone seen her like this.

"This is . . . breathtaking," Katniss said quietly. She looked up at her sire and he blushed, looking down at the ground. "I don't look like this surely."

"You do to me," he replied under his breath. A normal person wouldn't have heard it, but she did. It made her heart flutter.

"Thank you," she said. "I'm Katniss." What? What was she doing?

"Peeta," he answered. Katniss held out her hand and he shook it. She silently cursed when he gasped softly and looked down at her hand. Shit, she forgot. Her skin was cold and felt like marble to the touch. "Are you okay?" Peeta asked.

"Uh, yeah," Katniss said quickly, whipping her hand away and shoving it into her pocket.

"I guess I'll see you around then," Peeta said, standing up. He fumbled in his jeans pockets for a moment and Katniss eyes locked on two round cuts in his wrist. They're so deep . . . how did he not bleed out? "Here." He produced a small yellow post it note pad and scribbled something down on it. He then took her book back and flashed her a smile before walking off. The smile made her heart skip a beat.

Katniss looked at the post it. On it was a number with: _Give me a call sometime?_ scribbled across the bottom with a small heart drew in the top right hand corner.

Shit. What had she done?

_**A/N: So guys, they've met. What's going to happen between them? Will Katniss be able to control her bloodlust? Or not?**_

_**Please R&R! :D**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Sorry, shorter chapter but I wanted to get something out to you guys ASAP so here it is! ^_^**_

_**To the guest reviewer: Nope, this isn't a rewrite. I came up with this idea on my own ^_^**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**_

Chapter Three

Blood. Blood. Blood. Droplets of the dark red liquid filled her thoughts and wholly consumed her. Not just any blood though. _His_ blood. The blood of her sire. Of this Mellark boy.

"You're an idiot," Madge said, folding her arms as they walked through the junkyard. "Look at you! You can see you're dying to drink! Why won't you?!"

"I can't," Katniss replied. She bit her tongue and yelped as her fangs drew blood of her own.

They stopped at the rusty mirror propped up against the digger. No one would think of it as a possible accessory for their bedroom let alone a secret entrance to a speakeasy for vampires. Madge goes first. The reflective material placed in the frame of the mirror morphs and twists around the blonde as she climbs inside. Katniss watched in amazement as the girl disappeared completely.

She took a step forward and poked the mirror with her index finger. Her reflection rippled on the touch, each one moving outwards getting bigger and bigger the further out it goes. It always fascinated her how she could move from one world to another through a simple piece of house decor. As she pushed her hand through a cold chill ran up her arm, raising goosebumps and making her shiver. It felt like running a paintbrush along her skin, leaving a trail of cold paint behind.

Taking a deep breath, Katniss jumped right through and banged right into Madge's back. She gasped as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, her senses unable to get used to the sensation caused by portal jumping.

Her people's hideout was a dark place. Where the vampires could be themselves. They hide behind the mirror because their real selves is too much for human beings to handle. It's basically a mirrored area created by an old wizard who owed the vamps a debt. A parallel oppisote of the planet. Mirrors are strategically placed around the earth, doorways for the vampires to pass through and become themselves once more. No holding back, no pretending to be human.

On the other side of the mirror Katniss and Madge passed through was a club. Katniss could barely see ahead of herself and had to reach out to grab her friend's arm to assure herself she was there. Strobe lights streaked across the area and was the only light provided. Music pounded in their ears so heavily that Katniss could feel it in her chest.

Vampires danced and writhed against each other everywhere. Fangs grazed teasingly across bare skin, hands blinding reaching out, touching and grabbing what they pleased without much care or consideration. People just let loose and did as they wanted. Because that's who vampires are. They don't have restraint or worries or fears.

They're free.

Finnick sat in a corner booth, surrounded by women. His devasting good looks and natural charm makes him a popular guy. Especially with the females. They are all practically sitting ontop of him, touching and biting whatever was exposed to them. Katniss caught a particular blonde's fangs as they glinted in the green strobes when she threw her head back and licked them hungrily.

"Okay ladies, clear off," Madge said, clapping her hands. "Shoo, shoo, GET OUT OF HERE!" There was a moments pause when the girls looked at Finnick for confirmatioin on whether they should leave or not. Finnick nodded and they moaned, grumbling slightly as they moved out and morphed into the crowd.

"Have you drank yet Katniss?" he asked, buttoning his shirt up to the top again as they joined him in the booth.

"No," Madge answered for her. She pursed her lips in distaste and took a vial of O- out of her back pocket. She twisted the top and downed it all in one.

"I will . . . soon . . ." Katniss replied uncertainly. Could she really do it? Take a life? The life of her sire? The boy who's number still sits in her jeans pocket at this very moment? Madge wiped the blood from her mouth and slammed the vial onto the table.

"You better," she warned. "I didn't survive World War one and two just to die because you're too chicken to drink some damn blood."

"She'll get there Madge," Finnick said, kicking his feet up on the table.

"Fine, but I have a back up," Madge replied.

"What?" Katniss asked warily. Madge grinned and pulled a similar vile to the one that contained her O- only it had a blue lid whereas the O- one had a red one. "What's that?"

"Here, smell it," Madge answered, holding the vile out to her. Katniss looked at Finnick for help but he just shrugged. She cautiously took the container from her friend's pale hand and popped the lid open, holding it to her nose.

The smell of Peeta's blood filled her senses and she gasped, shutting the lid closed again and glaring at her friend. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" she exclaimed. "I could have lost it for all you knew!"

"That was kind of the point," Madge huffed, folding her arms. "I was hoping you'd lose it, crash through the mirror, hunt down the hot blond and suck him dry. Obviously you're stronger than I thought."

But she wasn't strong. Not at all. Her eyes kept sliding back to the vial filled to the brim with the dark blood of her sire. Madge sure is desperate for her to drink. But then again, it did look tempting . . .

"What's his blood type?" Katniss asked, almost dreamily.

"AB negative," Madge replied, eyeing the vial herself almost jealously.

"Best fucking type there is," Finnick said. "It's rumoured to taste like every delicacy put together into one."

"It's the also the rarest," Madge added. "Your a lucky girl Katniss."

"How did you get it?" Katniss questioned. She picked up the vial and ran her fingernail along the label: _Peeta Mellark, K's Sire._

"Snuck into his house last night," Madge said casually. "Wasn't hard. He sleeps with his window open. Just syringed some out of his arm. Easy peasy."

Katniss unscrewed the cap once more and took another sniff. A longer, more drawn out sniff; like a druggie wishing to savour their round of the blunt. It filled her senses and all she could think of once more was drinking. Sucking every last drop of blood from that boy's body until their was nothing left. Then she could be free like the vampires. Free forever.

She'd drank the whole thing before she'd even realized it. Katniss gazed at the empty vial in confusion, wondering where it had all went until it some dripped down her chin. Madge and Finnick looked amused as she caught the droplet and licked if off her hand.

"You're not going to hold out much longer," Madge concluded. "That boy's gonna die." Katniss swallowed, remainants of Peeta's blood still lingering in her mouth. It was an amazing taste. The smell had made her feel high and now that she'd consumed it she was flying like a kite. "So what's your first taste of AB negative taste like?"

"Second actually," Finnick corrected. Katniss remembered the deep fang marks in Peeta's wrists. Marks _she'd_ made. There was a small part of her that wanted to run out into the human world, find the blonde and finish what she'd started. It wasn't a large part of her but it sure was a part that was demanding to be heard.

"And remember, I know when you're lying," Madge smirked. Katniss sighed.

"It's delicious," she admitted. "But I'm not drinking any more. I'am not going to kill anyone."

"Goddamnit Katniss!" Madge snapped, slamming her fist on the table. "When are you going to see that this is your life? This is the path you were chosen for, this is what you have to die to survive?!"

"It wasn't the path I had chosen!" Katniss exclaimed. "It's the path you chose for me!"

"If I hadn't of turned you you wouldn't even be here right now! You would have bled out in that ditch!" Madge yelled.

"Madge," Finnick warned, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Easy."

"You should have just left me to bleed then," Katniss hissed. "Because now you expect me to take the life of an innocent just to save your own head. Do you ever wonder what these people's lives would be like if you didn't kill them? That girl yesterday didn't even look like she'd finished school!"

"This is what we have to do to survive Katniss!" Madge shrieked, her voice going high and pitchy. She coughed and lowered it before saying quietly, "If you don't do it on your own then I will drag him to you and force you to." She stood up. "I will throw him onto his knees in front of you and we'll see how much control you have then. Look, I don't want to do that but I will if it comes to it. I'am not going to die."

Madge vanished into the crowd and Katniss groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "What do I do Finn?" she asked her friend. Finnick shrugged.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asks. "You kill him."

_**A/N: Sorry again that it's short but I hope its good enough? :-)**_

_**Please R&R! :D**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Hey everybody! Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! You're all awesome! :-)**_

_**To the guest reviewers who had questions or enquires:**_

_**Amanthya: In this fic, sire is like another word for mate. It's what I decided to call them. In other vampire stories a 'sire' is what they call the vampire who turned the human into one of them. But in my story they're mentors not sires. So basically sire is the exact same as a mate. They're both the same thing in Bloodlust ^_^**_

_**Jess: It's bad luck if someone's sire also gets turned into a fledgling. But since the sire would no longer be human then their blood would become moot and would be no use what-so-ever to the fledgling that needs it as sire sustance. In this chapter Katniss explains what happens to fledglings if they stay that way for too long without having a sire to drink from. I hope this answered your question :D**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing :-D**_

Chapter Four

"Why don't you just turn him?"

Katniss paused, box in hand, and frowned. Her collegue, Rue, and herself were working their shift at the delivery sector of The Hob. Their job was to load and unload boxes into the trucks. Rue is a wispy young thing who's twelve years old. She was bit when she was a baby by a deranged vampire who desperately wanted a family. The vampire was caught and executed for turning a child but there was nothing that could be done for Rue. They had to raise her as a fledgling.

Rue hasn't found her sire either but the council don't look down on that much since she's still only a kid. People like Katniss, who is seventeen nearing eighteen, are the ones to worry the most about. Especially if they don't know who their sire is. In fact, if it had taken her any longer to have located her sire then a member of the council would have been sent out to work by her side to try and find him.

She's thankful she found him.

"What?" Katniss asked.

"Turn him. Into a fledgling. Like you," Rue said, shoving a box into the truck. "Doesn't that mean you can no longer drink him? Because he'd be automatically become part of the clan?"

"It may have been easy for you Rue," Katniss replied. "You transferred from 11 and was automatically let in because of your history. If I turned this guy . . . I think they'd kill him anyway."

"But then that wouldn't make sense." Rue hopped into the truck and sat on the edge, her legs swinging two and fro. "Because then you'd be a fledgling forever and Madge and Finnick would be in trouble."

Katniss sighed. "Rue, if I turned him he'd become a fledgling and I couldn't drink him to become a vampire therefore Madge and Finnick would be in trouble either way. There's no other way out of it. I'm going to have to kill him."

Rue contorted her face as she thought for a solution that Katniss knew was impossible. "There's bound to be a loopole . . ."

"Well I can't think of anything," Katniss replied. "The Book of Meredith is very clear on what the rules are. Drain your sire or your mentor/s die." The book is basically like the bible to vampires. It contains the rules to their belief systems. Obviously it is written more formally in the Book of Meredith but it's easier to dumb it down slightly when talking to a child . . . and Katniss wasn't too sure if she understood it either when it's written all fancy like.

"But . . . what happens you then? If you don't drain him?" Since Rue was still young there was still things she didn't know or couldn't understand. Katniss shrugged.

"Apparently fledgling life spans are limitied, I don't know. It's like there's a clock ticking away inside me. Ticking and ticking until one day it just . . . stops," she explained. "I think the blood of my sire is like a fresh battery. A never ending battery I guess. One that will keep me ticking until the end of days."

"Some battery that is," Rue murmered. "I wish I had a battery like that when my lamp kept busting."

Katniss chuckled and put another box into the truck. The boxes were normally heavy and usually took them both of them to load in but her newly found strength made them easy to lift.

"So," Rue giggled, poking Katniss' arm with the tip of her shoe. "What's your sire like?"

"A boy?" Katniss frowned.

"Is he cute?"

Katniss' eyes widened and her mouth fell open. "Wh-what?"

"Oh my god you're turning red!" Rue exclaimed, pointing at her. "That's so sweet! So he _is_ cute then!"

"No," Katniss replied. Her voice went high and broke slightly when she spoke. "Don't look at me like that I'm serious." Rue grinned and folded her arms, thoroughly amused.

"Katniss!" Greasy Sae called from the front of the shop. "Can you cover the till for a couple of minutes while I go out and fill out an order sheet?"

"No problem!" Katniss called back. Rue's grin didn't falter as Katniss glared at her before turning and weaving through the piles of boxes to the front of the store. Greasy Sae stood at the till, a wry smile on her face as she moved around the counter to head out the front door. Katniss took her place by the till and perched on the stool that sat beside it.

As she sat there with her chin resting in her palm, her stomach rumbled. When she was a fledgling this was easily cured by eating a sandwich or consuming some crisps but everything was different now. There was nothing else that will satisfy her hunger but Peeta's blood. The thick, warm, red, metallic blood . . . she could practically taste it in her mouth.

The bell by the door tinkled and Katniss looked up. She plastered a faux smile on her face as a couple of customers entered and did her best 'cheery Hob Helper' act. When she was asked to work out front she melted into the job and didn't act like herself. She never did. If she acted like herself then they'd have already lost half their customers.

Katniss turned around to organize the stuff on the back shelf behind the counter. It was a mish mash of odd bods and random nick nacks that always seemed to jumble themselves into some disorderly fashion. She felt a presence behind her at the counter-another amazing power bistowed upon her since she discovered her sire-a customer probably. Putting on her best smile, she spun round and said:

"Welcome to the Hob, how may I help you?"

Then her face fell. Infront of her, looking as equally shocked as she did, was Peeta Mellark. As soon as she laid eyes on him, her stomach rumbled even louder, as if intimidating a whale's mating call. She tried to ignore how her throat dried up and her senses pricked up to catch the scent of the boy's blood . . . no matter how difficult it was.

It had been a couple of days since she'd spoken to Peeta Mellark and his number was still sitting in the pocket of her black jeans at home. She felt a pang of guilt. She never called him. But she did it for his own good. If she had of called him then she'd have gotten hooked into going on a date with him. Which Katniss knew mightn't be too bad.

If she didn't lust for his blood.

"Uh . . . " she trailed off, flicking her eyes down to the items on the counter.

Flour. Milk. Eggs. What? Was he baking a cake or something? She looked back up at him and couldn't help noticing the distinct smile on his face. The smile made her feel warm and fuzzy inside: a feeling she'd never experienced before. When he noticed her looking he ducked his gaze as well, suddenly fascinated with the wooden floorboards. Racking her mind, she blurted out the first thing she could think of.

"Is that all?"

Peeta looked back up at her and nodded almost sheepishly. She smiled. She was unsure of why she smiled but there it was. On her face. Katniss never normally smiled a lot but she here she was, Katniss Everdeen, smiling. Madge would have a field day if she was here right now.

"So, do you bake or something?" she found herself asking as she ran the items through the till and packed them. Her eyes grew drawn to the blood that rushed to his cheeks when she asked the question. He was blushing.

"I'm a baker actually," Peeta said. "My dad owns the bakery up the street."

"Mellark's? I knew I knew that name from somewhere!" Katniss exclaimed. Peeta frowned.

Oh no. He hadn't told her his second name. Oh shit. She quickly racked her brain for something that would distract him from what she said and blurted out the first thing that came to her.

"I'm sorry I didn't call! I meant to but I just . . ."

"Didn't?" Peeta asked, smiling. "It's okay. I get it a lot."

How could someone not call him? If she was still human she'd probably have called him the very next day. The way his hair hangs over his bright blue eyes captivated her from the beginning . . . and the way she can sometimes see the vien his neck if he turns a certain way . . . She could practically feel herself skimming her nose along his soft skin, softly smelling the sweet nector inside him before gently sinking her teeth into his juglar and sucking him until there was nothing left . . .

Katniss chastised herself for getting distracted and focused her attention back on his eyes instead of his neck.

"I was going to call," she lied. "I just have a lot of things going on right now . . . but I was definetly going to get to it!"

"Honestly, it's fine," Peeta smiled. "You don't have to. I gave you my number just in case there was a possiblity you liked me too-"

"I do though!" Katniss said, unable to let him think she didn't like him. "I swear I do it's just . . ." How did she explain this to him? There's no possible way she can let him down easy without telling him the truth. Which is against _everything_ in the Book of Meredith.

"It's okay Katniss, seriously." Peeta put ten dollars onto the counter and smiled again. This time Katniss felt herself blush. He collected his packed stuff and turned to leave. Katniss felt an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach as she watched him go. He stopped, and her heart leapt as he turned back around. "If, by any chance, you did get some free time . . . feel free to stop by the bakery any time."

Katniss felt herself smile again and she nodded. "Sure," she said. "I will."

_**A/N: Please R&R and let me know what you think! ^_^**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews! You're all awesome! :-)**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot :D**_

Chapter Five

She couldn't help herself. It was just too damn irrestitable. The scent was just too strong and she couldn't prevent herself from finally taking what was hers. He wasn't hard to find, he was exactly where he said he'd be. The bakery. He was surprised to see her but the surprise soon melted into glee to see her. Focusing her mind, she charmed him with her eyes-another power she was given when she discovered him as her sire. The compliance of a human under the spell of a vampire/fledgling who are hunting their sire is astounding. When she comanded him to come to her, he scrambled around the bakery counter almost desperately-like a school swot, desperate to get picked to tell the answer-and stood inches from her in the middle fo the room.

He was beautiful. Especially up close like this. His golden hair had fallen over his eyes when he moved so quickly around the counter but the eyes themselves were blank. That was what happened when a mortal was charmed. Like being under a hypnatist's power, their mind went blank and their face turned placid. The deep blue still sparkled though, as if nothing could fully take away the life in them.

Her hand reached out, almost instinctively, and ran through the golden locks ontop of his head until it reached the nape of his neck. It shocked her how soft his hair was. It was almost like silk. Warmth rushed to her core and she thought of how peculier this was. What was this feeling and why did she like it so much?

She lightly pushed on his neck, bringing his face toward hers, and she wondered what she was doing. Her lips were inches from his when she whispered softly, "Kiss me."

Ever the obident under her spell, the boy smashed his lips against hers. They were soft and felt like velvet brushing against her mouth. A primal urge washed over her and she raked her nails down his chest, feeling a band of thick muscles under the thin material of his shirt. The spellbound blond moaned at her touch and the sound went straight to her core, where a dull ache was forming. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him, a command that didn't need saying.

With her body pressed against his, the smell of his blood was as strong as ever. She pulled her mouth from his and skimmed her nose along his jaw. God, he smelt delicious. His hands tightened on her waist as her nose ran down his neck. Her thoughts ran wild as her teeth grew into sharp points in aniticipation.

"Let me drink you," she murmered breathily. Still under her control, he leant closer to her, as if giving permission. Giving himself to her. He flinched as her cold hands touched his skin as she tilted his head over. Licking her lips, she kissed the now visible vien in his neck, lingering and feeling the blood pulse beneath his skin.

Baring her teeth, she finally bit into his neck.

~xXx~

Katniss awoke with a start. She gasped as her teeth pricked her bottom lip. Did they grow in her sleep? Is that supposed to happen? She groaned and buried her face into the crook of her arm. How could she dream of something so grossly awful but so deliciously wonderful at the same time? She didn't know it could be possible.

"Urgh!" a shrill voice grunted from the next room.

Katniss lived with her little sister Primrose. Prim was an average thriteen year old: into boys, bands, books and was an expert at ultimate fangirling.

"Prim?" Katniss sighed, getting off the bed and going into her sister's room. The little blond was hunched over her computer, her head buried in her hands. Her golden braids hung depressionly over her irritated face. "What's wrong?"

"_This!_ This sad excuse for a fanfiction story!" Prim exclaimed. Katniss fought the urge to roll her eyes. Her sister was addicted to fanfiction stories and got freaked out over the smallest things. As long as she didn't agree with what was being written, nothing else mattered. Normally, Katniss would sigh and leave the room to let her sister grieve in her irritance but knowing that soon she'd have to leave her when she drinks Peeta somehow makes her want to stay and listen to her sister rant.

"Why? What's wrong with it?" she asked her.

"It makes _no_ sense!" Prim shrieked. "They've written Marcus as some rough, nasty, mean guy who's addicted to sex and is all dom like with Jeeny-"

"Addicted to sex? Dom?" Katniss frowned. "Prim, you're thirteen! What the heck are you reading?!"

"Doesn't matter," Prim waved off. "But it shouldn't be like that! Marcus was always kind and gentle and caring and wouldn't hurt a fly in the books! In fact, if you were going to write an AU about this type of thing then it'd make more sense for Jeeny to be like that because in the books she was cold and closed off to Marcus."

"But isn't that the point of a . . . what is it? AU?" Katniss questioned, peering over the computer screen to catch a glimpse of what her sister was reading. Prim minimized the window so she couldn't read it.

"Sure, yeah. In an AU you can make alterations to the plotlines and make your own world but some of these people seem to like to see Jeeny as a vulnerable little girl who just takes what Marcus gives her and melts like freakin' butter at everything he does! She doesn't even fight for domiance half the time even though she's always been a fighter! And I hate reading Marcus as a bad guy! It makes my blood boil, I swear-"

"Prim, Prim, _chill,_" Katniss said, placing her hands on her sister's shoulders.

"I can't!" Her sister spluttered. "It's just so damn irritating! Even knowing that a fic like this exists it's just . . . _urgh_!"

"Okay, okay, what would make you feel better?" Katniss asked.

There's a pause while her sister clenches and unclenches her fists. Prim chewed her bottom lip and her eyebrows knitted together as she thought about it. Katniss studied the girl's bright blond hair and couldn't help feeling an ache in her heart as she knew that the day were she'd have to leave her little sister behind was getting closer and closer. When she begins her new life.

As a vampire.

But she'd have to kill Peeta first.

Or die.

Either or.

"A Mellark cheese bun," Primrose finally answered.

"A _what?_" Katniss exclaimed.

"A Mellark cheese bun," Prim explained. "They're gorgeous! They taste . . . out of this world, Katniss! I can't believe you haven't tried one!"

"Mellark?" Katniss asked. Can't be . . . could it?

"Uh-huh. You can get them at the bakery up the road from where you work. This kid Peeta bakes 'em. He's really nice to me. He sometimes sneaks me a cupcake when I go into the shop," Prim says excitedly.

Prim had met Peeta? Since when? Her little sister had met her sire before she even knew he existed? Can that even be possible?

"Oooh, now I'm craving a cheese bun," Prim moaned, folding her arms and throwing her head back to look at Katniss pleadingly. "Can we go to the bakery and get one?"

"Uh . . ."

"Aw, come on, pllleeeaasssseee," Prim begged, dragging the 'please' out.

Unable to say no to her sister's big blue eyes, Katniss sighed and nodded. Prim squealed in excitement. She shut down her computer and hopped to her feet.

"Plus," her sister said as she flounced out the front door. "Peeta's kind of cute. I think you'd like him."

~xXx~

Primrose skipped happily into the bakery without a second thought, the bell ding following her as she went. Katniss paused by the door. Could she handle this? After having such a . . . _unique_ dream too . . .

Yes, she could do it. She was a fledgling for god's sake. Soon to be vampire. She could handle going into a bakery with her sister where her sire works. She could. She could. She pushed through the door into the shop and paused there when she saw Primrose standing by the counter, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Peeta!" she exclaimed as the main star of Katniss' dreams entered from the back. His face lit up when he saw Prim and he smiled.

"Hey squirt," he replied, ruffling her hair. Prim giggled. "What can I do for you?"

"Well it's completely my big sister's fault but I'm totally craving a cheese bun!" Prim explained excitedly. Peeta looked up at Katniss as Prim gestured behind herself at her. She smiled weakly at him and played with the hem of her shirt. Peeta smiled back, his cheeks tinting pink, and returned his gaze to Prim.

"So it's a cheese bun you're looking for eh?" he asks her. Prim nods her head rapidly.

"Yes, yes, yes!" she said.

"Well, isn't it just great luck that I just baked a fresh batch isn't it?" Peeta grinned.

"Oh my god, yay!" Primrose exclaimed, clapping her hands. Peeta looked back at Katniss and smiled.

"Would you like one too?" he asked her.

"Uh . . ." Katniss swallowed hard, unable to answer. She really shouldn't . . .

"Yes!" Prim answered for her. "She would _love_ one! No one, I repeat, _no one_ has ever lived until they have a cheese bun. Or, as I call it, a _Peeta bun._ Heh heh, get it?"

"Very clever," Peeta replied. "Hold on, let me just let me go get you a couple." He disappeared into the back area and Prim turned around to face Katniss, a smile on her face.

"I _told _you he was cute," she said proudly.

"What?" Katniss frowned.

"He's _so_ into you," Primrose gushed, clasping her hands together. "Oh maybe he'll ask you out! Then you could be boyfriend and girlfriend! Oh my god, I wanna be maid of honour at you wedding-"

"Prim," Katniss cut her off. "I'm not going to date him."

"Why not!?" Prim gasped.

"Because I'm not looking for a relationship," Katniss said. "And I probably never will . . . look, he seems like a nice guy but just . . . not what I'm looking for . . ." _Liar_, she thought. _If everything wasn't so complicated you probably would already be dating him._

"Awww Katniss," Prim whined. "You're such a buzz kill!"

"A _what _now?"

Peeta re-emerged from the back area with a white paper bag that had the Mellark's baker logo on the front. "Here you go," he said, handing Prim the back. "I hope they're good enough for you."

Prim rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid. They always are."

Katniss finally bucked up the courage to approach the counter. With each step closer she took, the stronger the scent of Peeta's blood grew. She steeled herself, clenching her fists and sucking in a harsh breath, and stopped beside her sister.

"How much is it?" she asked.

"No, it's fine," Peeta said, waving her off.

"I have to give you something," Katniss said.

"Honestly Katniss, it's fine," Peeta smiled. Prim's mouth formed the shape of an 'O'.

"You _know_ each other?!" she exclaimed.

"Come on Prim, let's go," Katniss said, wrapping her arm around her sister's shoulders and steering her out the door. "Thank you for the buns Peeta."

"Thanks Peet!" Prim called as Katniss practically shoved her out the front door.

"No problem," Peeta called back as Katniss went out the door as well. "Stop by any time!"

She immediately missed him.

Prim was immediately digging in the bag as soon as they started walking away. She produced one of the buns and shoved it into her mouth almost all at once. "Try one Katniss," she said through a full mouth, spewing crumbs everywhere.

Katniss looked into the bag and turned her nose up. Her old self would have scoffed them down one by one but now that she had gotten her first taste of blood, there was nothing that would ever satisfy her hunger but the rest of that blood.

"Hey look!" Prim exclaimed after she swallowed. "There's a post it!" She dug her hand into the bottom of the bag and produced a yellow post it note.

"Gimme that." Katniss snatched the post it note and examined it.

_Katniss,_

_Roses are red;_

_Violets are blue;_

_I know this poem is sucky;_

_Dinner for two?_

_~P_

"Let me see!" Prim demanded, jumping up to try to read it as well. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed. "He asked you out! And in a _poem!_ Oh Katniss, you have to say yes, you just have to!"

Katniss didn't answer. She just continued to stare at the note. Would this boy ever give up? She couldn't help feeling slightly warm inside as the re-read the poem over and over again. The type of warm feeling that made her feel like she was going to giggle like a school girl.

But when she looked up and saw Madge standing across the road, her face blank and her eyes smouldering, the feeling dies. The blond's eyes narrow on her and her lips purse in distaste. Katniss knows what this is. It's a warning. And she understood clearly. So clearly that she could practically hear it screaming in her ears.

_Get attatched and you shall endanger us all. Do not be stupid. Be stupid and you'll basically have signed our death certificates. Do. Not. Be. An. Idiot._

Checking that her sister wasn't looking, Katniss' fangs grew out and she curled her upper lip up so that Madge could see them. It was a warning of her own. They had an agreement that they would never do anything to do with the vampire world around Prim. Madge promised she'd stay away but now she has broken that promise to threaten her about her own safety. Katniss cared more about her sister than she did about Madge's welfare. She'd protect her to the ends of the earth.

Even if she'd have to leave her soon.

_**A/N: So Prim's fanfiction rant is based off my true feelings on some of the Katniss/Peeta fics on here. I'm not dissing anyone's work (and neither is Prim), it's just the way I feel. **_

_**Please R&R! :-)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Hey guys! :D :D**_

_**Jess: Every fledgling has a time limit as soon as they're turned. It's not just when they find their sire, it's from as soon as they're bitten. Rue was a baby when she was turned so her clock is slow. The clock is sped up some once the fledgling has discovered their sire but the age limit before their time runs out is at least the human age of 25. Rue isn't as informed as others as they still see her as a child who wouldn't understand. Yes, this is based on the assumption that everyone has a soulmate. Thanks for the questions! ^_^**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**_

Chapter Six

A cold hand slid over her mouth and she paniced. Katniss had been sleeping like a log because Prim had put up a fight to go to bed early since she had school in a morning when she was awoken by the brutal pressing of a hand against her mouth. Her eyes shot open and scanned the dark room for the attacker. As she adjusted, Madge's face came to shape in the darkness. She held a finger to her lips-a sign to be quiet-and pulled Katniss to her feet.

"What are you doing here?" Katniss hissed, hyper aware of her sister in the next room.

"They have summoned you," Madge hissed back. Katniss yanked her arm out of the blond's grasp and frowned.

"Who have?" she asked.

"The council," Madge said. There was a hint of pity in her tone, fear glistening in her blue eyes. Even Madge, someone who had lived for thousands of years, faced many things and was scared of nothing . . . even she feared the council.

The council are kind of like the law abiders for the vampires of Panem. Not very good law abiders but law abiders all the same. Sure, loads of people have broken vampire laws before and the council have ignored it because, in all seriousness, they could care less. The only things they really bother with are rogue fledglings and those who endanger the secret of the the vampire's existance. The things that put _them_, personally, in danger.

Which means nothing good can come from being summoned.

"Why?" Katniss took a step back from her mentor, afraid of what this meant.

"I don't know," Madge replied. "You just have to go."

"Why do I _have_ to go?" demanded Katniss. "I don't have to go if I don't want to!" Madge glared and pointed a manicured nailed finger at her threateningly.

"I've put up with enough of you and your idioticy," she warned. "I've been sent to collect you Katniss and you're going."

The brunette glanced at her bedroom door. No. She couldn't leave Prim here on her own. Their mother was on the night shift at the hospital and Katniss was babysitting her sister. Madge glanced at the door too and sighed.

"Your sister will be fine," she said.

"You can't guarntee that," Katniss replied. "What if I'm going to my death? What if I never come back?"

"Don't talk like that," Madge snapped. "You're _not_ going to your death." Tears glittered in her eyes and Katniss frowned in confusion, unable to understand what was wrong with her. Madge couldn't wait to get rid of her . . . right? Madge saw Katniss' confused expression and exhaled. "Rue is outside. She'll keep an eye on her."

"Rue's a fledgling," Katniss said. "What good could she do?"

"You underestimate her," Madge replied. "Primrose shall be fine. _Please_ Katniss, come. Because either you come by your own free will or . . ." She paused.

Katniss bit her lip and clenched her fists. Could she trust Rue to protect her sister? Would the twelve year old be able to handle such a responsiblity? Madge placed a hand on Katniss' shoulder and looked at her pleadingly.

"Katniss, they have Finnick there now," she said.

"What? Why?"

"To ensure you come," Madge answered. "Either you come or they kill him."

There was no questioning it now. She'd have to go.

"You swear to me right now that Prim will be safe," Katniss said. Madge nodded rapidly, her blond curls bouncing around her face.

"Yes, yes, she shall be safe."

"Also, never _ever_ go near her again. If I catch you anywhere near her again I'll kill you myself. I don't care about the situation, I don't care if you want to warn me or freak me out or whatever, do not go near Prim ever again, do you hear me?"

Madge nodded again, a little less enthusiastically. Katniss sighed and took a step forward.

"Let's go then."

Her mentor took her hand and tugged her towards the nearest mirror. She placed her index finger into the bottom left corner of the golden frame, making the mirror itself ripple. Once the ripples spaced out, she drew multiple patterns and shapes into her reflection: the codeword to get into the council room through the mirror passageways. Only a few people get told the patterns to the council room. People who have earned the trust of the council members.

People like Madge and Finnick. Who have lived for thousands of years and proved their worthiness of the council's trust.

The mirror shimmered, an indication that it's ready to be passed through.

Madge threaded her fingers together and knelt down infront of Katniss. "Go on in."

Katniss flicked her slippers off and put her foot onto Madge's threaded hands, pushing herself up and slipping out through the mirror. The hairs on her arms stood up as she passed through and landed with a heavy thump on the other side. Madge soon followed, landing on her feet beside Katniss as she pushed herself into a sitting position.

"I have brought her," Madge said, giving a small bow. "As promised."

Katniss stood and looked to see who her friend was talking to, and saw the leader of the council, Glimmer Sparkles, sitting on a giant golden throne at the top of the room. Flanking her is the other council members, Clove Jettison and Marvel Winters. The three of them together are known as the careers- a silly nickname bestowed upon them years ago by some drunk vampire that just kind of stuck. There used to be a fourth member of the careers called Cato Hadley but he vanished a long time ago. No one knows what happened to him but . . . he disappeared during a mission to recover a rogue fledgling who'd lost his mind. He just left and never returned. Vampires are now raised on stories about him and his bravery. He is treated as marytr even though it isn't assured that he's even dead.

"What is it exactly you want with me anyway?" Katniss asked.

Glimmer's red eyes sparkled as she tilted her head and pursed her lips in distaste. Her blond hair shimmered in the lighting of the room, much brighter than Madge's hair ever could. Before she could even answer, Katniss' mentor butted in.

"Never mind that right now," Madge snapped."You promised that if I brought her to you you'd free Finnick."

"Oh that's right," Glimmer said, as if she'd only just remembered ever making such a promise. "Such a shame too. Quite a few of my female associates were quite fond of the man."

"If you have done anything to hurt him-"

"He is unharmed, as promised," Clove said, her voice devoid of any emotion other than boredom.

"What is this? A piece of lover's tension do I sense?" Glimmer asked, a sly grin growing on her face.

"No, actually," Madge snapped. Her voice dripped of acid and hate. "You don't tend to want the person you've travelled with for a milliena to die over something as primitive as a ransom over a _fledgling._" Katniss felt slightly offended by how her mentor referred to her and felt the urge to defend herself when Glimmer spoke once more.

"Of course, how silly of me," she said. "But I fear he cannot be freed just yet. Not until we've discussed the problem at hand."

"Which brings me back to my inital question," Katniss said. "What is it exactly you want from me anyway?"

"It is our job to deal with rouge fledglings," Marvel said, finally speaking up. "Rouge can either mean gone mad from something gone wrong during changing or-" he paused-"stubborn idiots who refuse to drink their sire."

"Now Marvel," Glimmer smiled. "Be nice to our guests, do not insult. It is not often we have such unique a vistor in our midst, we must show them our hospitality, not our hate."

"Unique?" Katniss and Madge asked in unsion.

"Not you personally," Clove interjected, folding her arms and flicking her sleek black hair behind her shoulder. "But the blood that you seek."

"My friend you are here so we can make a bargian with you," Glimmer said. "An offer that you will hopefully be unable to refuse."

"Oh?" Katniss asked, trying to act superior when in actual fact she was terrified. "And what's that?"

"Us members of the council are entitled to whatever blood we please," Marvel explained. "Whatever type, from whoever we want to take it from, whenever, no mess, no questions asked."

"We have had it all," Clove continued. "And that's why we are feared. Because we have drank the types of all blood and could to it to you just like that-" she clicked her fingers for emphasis-"well, that's what we tell you lot anyway."

"The council relies on the fear of others to keep going. If the vampires of Panem discovered the truth, that we had lied, what would stop them from trying to overthrow us? Start a government of their own? Where humans shouldn't exist and should be roasted on a spit for dinner each night," Marvel explained. "What could stop them from killing us?"

Katniss swallowed hard and frowned. "You mean an uprising?" she asked.

"Exactly like an uprising," Clove answered.

"But what have you lied about?" Madge asked. "What's the truth? And what's it got to do with Katniss?"

"The sad truth is that we haven't indeed drank it all," Glimmer said almost grimly. "We have not eaten the rarest of the rare, the blood of only one in a million, the blood-"

"AB negative," Madge murmered. Katniss frowned.

"What? Peeta's blood?" she asked. "You haven't had Peeta's blood type before?"

Glimmer shook her head slowly, her eyes taking on an evil glint. "Alas, no. The type you call AB negative is so rare even we have not tried it, and this is why we come to you, dear Miss. Everdeen."

"So, you want me to drink my sire and then, what? Tell you what it tastes like? Write out a recipe for a gravy sauce that would match the flavour?" Katniss questioned. "I'm still not quite following."

"What Glimmer is saying is that we're willing to give you your vampirehood without the draining of your sire if you bring us the boy," Clove said. "Because we don't tend to lie to our fellow vampires and it'd be such a shame if we didn't take the oppurtunity to fix that lie."

Madge laughed dryly. "So basically, you're being greedy? You want to drink the best of the best and you're willing to make Katniss a full vamp-to break the laws of the Book of Meredith, might I add-just to try some?"

"That's a way of putting it, yes," Glimmer answered, standing up and walking down the steps by her throne towards Katniss and Madge. "What do you say, Miss. Everdeen? You won't have to kill anyone. You can be given your vampirehood and spend the rest of your days getting blood from that man at the hospital . . . what's his name again? Chinna?"

"Cinna," Katniss corrected through gritted teeth.

"All you have to do is bring us the boy," Clove said, appearing by Glimmer's side. The dark council capes they wear trail down to the floor like a black bridal train and don't stop until the bottom of the first step to the thrones.

How could they possibly deem her fit to make such an awful decision? Give them Peeta so they could drink his blood themselves? Could she really do that? The bloodthirsty part of her mind told her to screw them and their fancy words and blank faces, to save the good blood for herself, for someone who deserves it. The rational part saying that if she doesn't want to murder anyone then the only logical way is to accept their offer.

Then her heart says something else. It tells her no. It tells her to think things through. Either way this boy would die. Either by her hand, where she'd make it as painless as possible, or the council's, who will take pride and enjoyment in dragging it out as painfully as possible. She'd learnt about this sort of thing before when she was a child. If the council seek the blood of a mortal then they hunt them down and capture them. The careers are very big on making gigantic deals out of the littlest things so they treat the said mortal like a king until it is time to be drank on the alter of Meredith like a sacrafical lamb.

"No," Katniss finally said.

Glimmer's smile faltered and Clove's eyes darkened. "What?" Marvel snapped from his throne.

"I said, _no_," Katniss repeated, looking past the women to look Marvel in the eye. "The blood is mine. No one else's."

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," Glimmer said. "Either you bring the boy to us and we give you your vampirehood or"-her red eyes took on a malicious gleam-"we take him ourselves and let your body clock run out." Katniss stiffened and clenched her fist, the urge to punch the woman strong.

"She'll do it," Madge said. Katniss whirled around in horror and gaped at her mentor.

"No I won't!"

"Oh, did I mention that if you don't, we keep Odair?" Clove added. Katniss turned back around, completely lost and confused.

"Okay, how about this," she said. "I'll find someone else with AB negative blood? You can have them!"

"It's strange," Marvel said, stroking his chin in deep thought. "You seem to favour this boy who's your sire . . . a primitive mortal boy who holds your affections?"

"If he was so primitive why are you oh so desperate for his blood?" Katniss spat back. Marvel's glare pierced into her and she remembered her place. "Look, I'll find someone else, I promise. Just give me some time. _Please._"

Glimmer took a step back and tilted her head to the side. "You have seven days. After that, well, I think you can tell what will happen after that."

"Seven days. Yes, I promise! I'll find another AB negative! I'm sure it's not that hard . . ."

Clove scoffed and Glimmer looked thourougly amused, while Marvel still looked angry from when she snapped at him.

"Yes, it isn't that hard," Clove said. She seemed to be laughing at her. "But beware of this Miss. Everdeen, if this boy hadn't of been your sire, he would already have been dead."

"I-I understand," Katniss nodded.

"Go then," Glimmer almost purred. "Prove us your magnificence. Bring us another AB negative, if it's so easy."

Katniss nodded and turned around to leave. Madge stood behind her and the expression on her face chilled Katniss to the bone. She was fuming. Almost at boiling point of rage.

"You can stay Miss. Undersee so we can return your . . . friend," Glimmer said.

Unable to bear looking at her friend without feeling like she'd let her down, Katniss spun on her heel and charged at the mirror, leaping through again and falling onto the other side. She wasn't in her bedroom. The ground was wet and drizzle fell from the sky. Mirror travel can be unpredictable on where you'll end up. Only experts like Madge can be absoloutely sure that they know what's going to be on the other side.

Once she stood up, Katniss could immediately tell where she was. Behind the Mellark Bakery. Had that been intentional or just pure concidence? She moved to an apple tree and sat down underneath. She rested her chin in her hands. Find another AB negative. How hard could that be? There's bound to be plenty of people in 12 with the blood type of AB negative . . . right?

But then if there was, why would the council be so desperate to get her to give them Peeta? If there _was_ loads of people out there with AB negative blood then they wouldn't even be making a fuss of the fact that her sire had AB negative for blood.

Completely lost and confused, she buried her face into her arms and groaned. Why her? Why did she have to be one who got such a difficult time?

Why couldn't she just give them the boy and become a full vampire without having to kill anyone? Was it guilt? The fact that that would mean what she had done would be laboured on concious? Or was it something . . . deeper?

A crash made Katniss snap out of her thoughts and she listened as a lot of shouting began inside the bakery. She looked up just in time to see someone stumble outside into the rain. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness but when she did she saw Peeta tearing pieces of brunt bread apart by a pig trough, an angry red weal on his cheek.

Wanting to stay quiet, she slouched down further under the tree and kept a hand over her mouth. Her pyjamas were soaked through by now and her skin was pattered with droplets of rain but she didn't feel the cold. She couldn't let him see her, she just couldn't.

An apple fell from the tree and landed on her head. The thump sent a dull ache through her skull and she yelped a loud, "Ow!"

Peeta turned from the trough and squinted through the rain at her. "Katniss?" he asked. She tried to stay silent again, crossing her legs and hugging herself to become small but it was no use, he'd seen her. "Katniss, is that you?"

"No," Katniss weakly replied. Peeta frowned and threw the rest of the bread to the pigs.

"What are you doing? Are you okay?" he asked, approaching the tree.

"I'm just . . . ah . . . chillin' under your tree," Katniss answered.

"You're soaking," Peeta said, stopping a couple of metres from the tree. "You're going to catch your death."

"Pff," Katniss replied. "I'll be fine."

"You'll get punemonia."

"I'll survive."

"Come on into the bakery, you can dry off in there," Peeta grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"I'm fine, honestly," Katniss said, not protesting as he pulled her to the back door. He stopped and held his finger to his lips as he popped his head around the doorframe. When he came back around, he was smiling.

"The coast is clear," he said.

As soon as she set foot into the bakery kitchen, she felt at home. She didn't feel any warmer than she did outside because of her natural body temperature but there was something comforting about the warm glow that covered the room. Peeta disappeared up the stairs for a moment before quickly returning and wrapping a blanket around her shoulders.

"I can't stay long," Katniss insisted as he put a cup of something steaming infront of her. Peeta sat down across from her and studied her with a thoughtful frown. "What?" she asked.

"I can't seem to figure you out," he said. "One minute you're practically clawing at my sketchbook with avid curiousity in the park, then you're standing at the back of the bakery almost like you don't want to be noticed, and then you're sitting under the apple tree in my backgarden in the rain." He tapped a pencil almost impaitently against the table and Katniss' eyes trailed down his arm, locking on the still visible bite marks in his wrist.

"I can be . . . confusing that way," Katniss said, clutching the mug of hot liquid but not drinking it. Peeta laughed softly and Katniss couldn't help smiling. She ducked her head and kept her nose in the line of the steam that was rising from the drink. It smelt of hot chocolate. If she could keep herself smelling that then maybe she won't get distracted by his blood.

"I was worried in case I'd never see you again," Peeta said quietly. He looked up at her shyly. "In case I'd never know what you thought of the note."

"What? The poem?" Katniss chuckled. "It was very sweet."

"Good sweet or 'oh look at the desperate baker boy' sweet?" Peeta asked.

"Definetly good sweet," Katniss replied with a smile.

"So . . ." Peeta looks at her almost bashfully and bites his bottom lip nervously. He wants to know what her answer to it is.

She couldn't help thinking of how oblvious he was to everything that was going on around him. That the girl across from him who he was desperate for a date with was actually destined to kill him or that he had a blood type so rare that even the careers were desperate for a taste? It must be nice to be so unaware of things like that.

"I . . . yes," Katniss answered before she'd really thought it through. Peeta's eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped open.

"Really?" he asked in disbelief.

"Uh . . . yeah . . ." Katniss bit her lip in worry, immediately regretting what she'd done. She couldn't let herself get distracted. She needed to find another AB negative not mess around with the person she was trying to save. "Um, I need to get back to my sister," she said, standing up.

"I'll walk you home," Peeta said, standing up as well.

"No, really, it's fine," Katniss replied, shurgging the blanket off quickly.

She ran away before he could answer.

_**A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review! Thanks! ^_^**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Thanks for reviewing! :D**_

Chapter Seven

AB negatives. They can't be that hard to find, right?

Katniss stood in the middle of the crowded square and took a long sniff. Nothing. She could smell nothing at all. Well, no, that wasn't true, she could smell a lot. A postives, B postives, O negatives, every blood type under the sun.

Except AB negative.

There was a small tint of the smell in the distance but when Katniss followed it she bumped into Peeta again. He chatted with her for a bit and they agreed on a time and place for their date: Trinket's Resturant down the road, Friday night at six o'clock. And once he left, she hit a wall and couldn't smell it anymore.

He didn't ask her why she left so suddenly the night before and she was thankful. She didn't know how she would have answered.

Katniss hadn't seen or heard of Madge since the occurance with the Careers. She wasn't sure whether to be thankful or dishearted by this but she was worried about her friend. Had something happened to her? Or Finnick? Something disastrous? She hoped not.

By Thursday evening, Katniss had lost hope. How could she find an AB nagative with only three days left until the end of the week? The only person with that blood type within miles of 12 was Peeta and something inside Katniss did not want to give him to the Careers. She was desperate to not let him go there. She would not let him become a sacarifice. Over her dead body.

Katniss found herself drawn to the Mellark Bakery in the middle of the night. She knew the family lived above the bakery itself and she wondered whether one of Peeta's brothers had AB negative blood. She was wrong. She could only smell Peeta as she stood looking up at the building. Katniss couldn't help but wonder which bedroom was his. Which room was the one he slept in. Lived in. Grew up in.

Avidly curious, she circulated the house. The bakery was old; if the fraying paintjob and tangling creepers were anything to go by anyway. A hundred years at least. This made her wonder who built the bakery. Was it the Mellark ancestors? Or was the buisness passed down to them or bought by them? Did Madge ever meet them in her journey through the many districts as time went by?

The one detail Madge had told her when she had given her the vial of Peeta's blood was what aided her in firguring out which bedroom was his: He sleeps with the window open. Standing over the open window under the moonlight, an internal battle ranged within Katniss as she fought with herself to not go inside. To leave him alone. To ignore the glorious smell that was drifting out the window that was so clearly _Peeta_ she felt her knees buckle in excitement, as if her body had already decided she was going to go in.

And she did.

As a sire discovered fledgling, jumping great heights was no longer a problem. All Katniss had to do was bend her knees and push upwards and she was flying a couple of metres higher than Peeta's bedroom window. On the way back down, she pushed her feet forward and landed on the window ledge. She crouched down and looked through the open window and examined her surroundings. Examined his room.

The light provided by the moon made everything glow almost mystically. Pieces of paper covered the floor, all filled with half hearted drawings or unfinished sketches. One was stuck to the wall by a desk with a blue tack. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw what it was of. It was a very detailed rendition of _her_.

Peeta had captured her pefectly, right down to the braid over her right shoulder. She was leaning against a wall, her hands in the pockets of her brown cargo trousers. Her head was tilted up towards the sky and she followed the curve of her neck that the graphite from the pencil made and then trailed upwards towards her face. Eyes closed, mouth parted, Katniss looked content. Peaceful almost.

This is a picture of before she became a fledgling.

Had Peeta known her back then? He couldn't possibly. She certainly didn't know him. That of which she was sure. She'd never forget a face like that. Katniss already knew that Primrose had known him before she did . . . maybe that's how he knew her . . . Seen her in passing and recognized her as Prim's big sister and just used her as sketching practice. Yes . . . that had to be it.

Then something else caught her eye. A piece of paper almost crumpled up beside a black computer chair. Curious, Katniss climbed inside-forgetting momentarily that this counted as breaking and entering-and swiftly tiptoed towards the paper. Thank Meredith she made no sound, her feet might as well have been walking on air. When she unsrunched the paper, her heart dropped into her stomach.

It was her again. Only different. There was a hungry look in her eyes and she looked almost rabid. She was biting into something and blood was trailing out of the wound created. With great fear, Katniss realized this was her when she was drinking from his wrist. On the first night she saw him. There was a small question mark in the bottom corner of the drawing with four words written below it:

_Real or not real?_

Katniss swallowed hard and clutched the drawing tightly in her hands. There was a small part of Peeta that remembered what she'd done last night only he wasn't sure whether it was real or just fantasy. She hoped dearly that he thought the idea was ridiculous and that's why he crumpled up the drawing but something told her it wasn't the real reason. It was something else.

A stir and a groan pulled Katniss from her thoughts. She dropped the piece of paper on instinct and turned around slowly, ready to attack any possible threat. But the only thing that was there was an unconcious boy, sleeping in his bed. She'd almost forgotten that she was poking around in Peeta's bedroom at two in the morning.

Katniss had heard girls at her school gush about how much cuter boys are when they're sleeping but she'd never really understood it. Those were the type of girls who'd know this because they'd wake up beside boys on the slag heap not because they were breaking into their bedroom early on a Friday morning. But she understood what those girls were talking about now.

Sleeping took years off Peeta's face, every crease and frown line smoothed out as his face stayed content. His hair was dishevelled and some strands lay over his forehead, almost calling her over to smooth out. Small shadows flicked over his cheeks caused by his eyelashes being so irresitablely long. Katniss approached his bed cautiously, unable to prevent herself from inhaling the scent that was the rare AB negative. As her eyes trailed over his sleeping form, she stopped when she noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

She didn't know what she expected. He didn't have to sleep in a shirt if he didn't want to. Especially since he probably didn't expect to have someone in his room watching him sleep in the middle of the night. After never noticing guys all her life and not paying attention during Science when learning about the human body, Katniss couldn't help the way her eyes followed the contour of every muscle, every rise and fall of his chest as he soundly slept.

A raw urge to reach out and touch him washed over her and she took a step back. Katniss had spent so long being cold that she couldn't help her mind wandering and wondering whether his skin would be warm the way hers used to be. Alien thoughts also passed through her mind that she'd never thought or considered before: What would it be like to touch him? Have him touch her? To have his warm body pressed against her cold one, warming her up in a way she'd never been warmed before?

Her heart began to thud and, weirdly enough, the first thing Katniss did was crouch beside the bed and take his wrist into her hands. As not to wake him, she gently turned it around and, as predicted, the two round punctures were still there. She felt guilty for permanantly scarring him like that. Bringing Peeta's wrist to her lips, she placed a gentle kiss to the wound. Then another. Then another. And another. And another.

Lust for something that wasn't blood suddenly crashed into her and she found herself trailing her mouth up the sleeping boy's arm and across his chest. Katniss was soon ontop of him on his bed, kissing and sucking at his neck. Even when alseep, Peeta groaned his approval as if he could feel everything she was doing to him. Maybe he could. Maybe he thought it was a dream. Katniss enjoyed feeling in control like this. Like she could do everything and anything to this boy if she wanted to. She was the master and he was her slave. She was the fledgling and he was the sire.

It was when her fangs grew out and grazed along the soft skin below Peeta's jaw that Katniss realized what she was actually doing. She yelped and threw herself off the bed. It took a lot to drag herself to the window when every fibre of her being was protesting, wanting to stay and play with the helpless mortal boy while he slept. Throwing herself against the window sill, she gasped at the air and tried to think of anything else but the smell of the blood in the body behind her.

She couldn't jump out the window just yet, her body was still pulling her back and she felt too weak to do anything drastic like jump out and hope to land on her feet. She couldn't say she didn't enjoy what she had been doing to Peeta just now. She actually quite liked it. The control. The dominance. Maybe it was her inner vampire talking but she definetly wanted _more._ More of her sire. Katniss wanted Peeta so wholly and completely that she felt willing and ready to take all of him.

No. These weren't her thoughts! Well . . . most of them weren't anyway. Why did she even come here in the first place? How could she not have forseen something like this happening?

Behind the Mellark's backgarden there's a field, the beginnings of the District 11 fields Katniss guessed, and as she stared out the window, she noticed a young woman standing in said field, mere inches from the small fence that seperated the bakery backgarden from the field itself. Katniss could just about make out the woman's blonde hair and blue eyes. Immediately she thought of Glimmer-the head of the Careers and the Council-but it wasn't her. It was someone else.

The way the woman was staring back at her made Katniss shiver. She didn't like the way she was looking at her at all and something in the look told her it was something to do with the whole AB negative situation. But who was this woman? And what did she want?

Unable to feel comfortable leaving Peeta with the strange woman waiting outside, Katniss took refuge on the window sill and sat guard of his bedroom. There was something off putting about the woman and Katniss didn't like it. She could sense she wasn't a mortal and that made the feeling even more unsettling.

But even fledglings need their sleep and Katniss found herself drifting off to sleep not even half an hour later. When she awoke at four o'clock, the woman was gone and thankfully Peeta was still asleep. More confused than ever, Katniss stood up on the sill, took one last forlourn look at Peeta and jumped out the window.

As she left the bakery and walked down the footpath her mind returned to the drawing of her biting his wrist. How could he have remembered so vividly what had happened and yet still think it was a dream?

She had to ask him. She just had to. She couldn't hold it in any more. Maybe if she told him what was going on he'd understand why she needed to keep her distance from him. Or maybe he knew another AB negative she could find! One thing was for sure though . . . Katniss could no longer keep secrets.

She had to tell him.

Tonight on their date.

She had to tell him everything.

_**A/N: Oooohhh I'm bristling with so many ideas for this it's unreal! :D :D**_

_**Please R&R! :-D**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and support!**_

Chapter Eight

Katniss adjusted the bottom of her dress and looked at herself through the dusty window of the old butcher's shop. The building was abandoned long ago when the buisness was shut down for a health violation and the family had left 12 as soon as the place was shut. Since then, it's been empty.

She was meeting Peeta in an hour and she still wasn't sure what she going to do. Was she just going to come right out with it? Or was she going to ease him into it? Why was she finding this so difficult? Surely telling him the truth of what was happening was the easiest part . . . right?

Katniss took off down the street, her black high heels clinking against the pavement just like that girl last Friday night's did. A shiver ran through Katniss' spine as she remembered the newspaper report of the girl-who's name turned out to be Myra-'s death. Her bag swung two and fro on the crook of her elbow as she walked and she ran through various ways of telling her sire that she was a fledgling in her head. Not just any old fledgling, she reminded herself, a fledgling who's destiny was to kill _him._

Taking a short cut down an old alleyway, Katniss was making great time. The walls of the alley darkened her path but she could still see clearly enough and was almost out the other end again when she was slammed against the wall.

Her head whacked the bricks behind her and her vision blackened at the edges. Two strong hands pushed back on her shoulders and she gasped in pain as they tightened.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Madge screamed.

Katniss' eyes flew open and her mouth dropped open in horror when she saw the state of her mentor. The girl's blond hair was matted and was falling in greasy tendrails down the sides of her dirty face. She reeked of OB postive (a fancy name given to the blood that tastes, smells and looks disgusting-mostly belonging to a body that's been dead for ages or old hobos and tramps) and her normally clear blue eyes were dark scarlet tinted around the edges with bold black.

"Going on a date?" Katniss replied, almost fearfully.

"No you weren't!" The blond growled. "You were going to tell him weren't you?!"

"_No_," Katniss lied. "Of course not."

Madge clenched her jaw. "You little liar," she hissed. "I know you're going to tell him. Glimmer heard you."

"Heard me what?!" Katniss exclaimed.

Madge rolled her eyes and shook Katniss by the shoulders. "Idiot! Don't you know that the Head of the Council can read people's thoughts? Especially fledglings?"

"Pff, of course I do . . ." Katniss frowned. She did not know that. If Glimmer could read her thoughts then she must have heard everything that passed through her mind when she asked her to bring them Peeta. Maybe that's how they all knew that she had some sort of affection for him . . . even if she wasn't even sure about that herself yet . . . "What are you still doing with the council anyway?!"

"They wouldn't free Finnick you imbeclie!" Madge said. "They didn't trust that you'd keep true to your word so they kept him. I've been spending the past five days trying to get him out! Obviously unsuccesfully." Katniss could already tell that. As best friends for years would, once together, Madge and Finnick were inseperable. It took some really strong force to rid them of each other's sides.

"I'm working on it!" Katniss said, trying to shrug her friend away. The blond's hands wouldn't budge. She was kept pressed against the wall.

"You've drew too much attention to youself," Madge said, her voice low. "You've attracted the attention of the Watcher."

"The who now?"

"The Watcher," Madge repeated through gritted teeth.

"I've never heard of a Watcher," Katniss said. "You're just making things up now. There is nothing in the book of Meredith about a-"

"It's not in the book!" Madge snapped. "That's what puts most people off. The Watcher only comes when something stirring catches her attention. Something she'd like to become involved in. Something she'd like to . . . mess with."

"Mess with?" Katniss asked. Her heart began to pound in a panic. Is that who that woman outside Peeta's window was? The Watcher?

"She's known for messing with the mortals," Madge explained, letting go of Katniss and stepping back. "She likes to make them into her own band of fledglings."

"Why don't the council stop her?"

"They don't care. It doesn't affect them personally, remember?"

Katniss nodded. She didn't like this. She didn't like it at all. "But doesn't a mortal have to give permisson before they're turned? How could she have found a big bunch of willing mortals?"

"She gives them this," Madge says, taking a small round glass vial out of her pocket. It was a stout, circular jar about the size of her thumb and had a golden rim around the sphere top. Inside was a dark red liquid that lapped up around the glass and filled it up half way.

"What is it?" Katniss asked, taking the vial into the palm of her hand.

"My blood," Madge shrugged.

"Your . . . _what?_"

"Okay, the Watcher doesn't use _my _blood in particular but it doesn't need to be mine. It can be hers, or any vampire's blood," Madge explained. "If a mortal consumes the blood of a vampire then they become like them for a sort period of time. Obviously they don't grow fangs and can't drink blood but they _feel_ what we feel. Like the way we walk the streets at night and can feel every noise, every breeze, every star that shines in the sky. That magnificent feeling that makes us become so _alive!"_

"And you think the Watcher wants to do that to Peeta then?" Katniss asked.

"I don't think. I know. Especially since the Council want him. The Watcher will try to get there first."

"What happens after the effects of the blood wear off?" Katniss checked her watch. Half and hour until she had to meet Peeta.

"Most of the time they don't," Madge shrugged. "They become so disoreintated while under the spell of the blood that they practically end up begging to be turned because they want to feel the way we do forever. Most of the time they aren't disappointed and are turned into a fledgling."

"Why does the Watcher do that?" Katniss asked with a frown.

"For fun mostly," Madge replied. "She finds enjoyment in defying the Book of Meredith and irritating the Council. She especially enjoys turning mortal boys into fledglings. I'm tired of telling you what you can and can't do Katniss but I'd strongly suggest not telling Peeta what's going on around him. Seriously. You don't know what could happen."

"I think I'll make that descision on my own thank you very much," Katniss replied.

"Be careful Katniss," Madge warned as Katniss turned her back and walked off to the end of the alley. "You could put him in even more danger!"

Ignoring her, Katniss decided to head to the bakery and see if Peeta was there. If he was then they could walk to Trinket's together. She suddenly didn't want him walking the streets at night on his own. Anyone could get him out in the open . . .

Why was she so protective all of a sudden?

Katniss grinded to a halt across the road from the bakery. In front of the store was Peeta, locking up for the night, with a familar blond beside him. Her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders and she had something clasped tightly in her right hand. As she turned to walk down the street with him as he headed in the direction of the resturant, Katniss caught a glimpse of bright blue eyes.

The same eyes from last night.

She was the Watcher.

Katniss watched as they walked down the road side by side. The Watcher seemed to be speaking at a rapid pace and Peeta was nodding along with her, barely keeping up with what she was saying. Katniss couldn't hear what the woman was saying but by her expression she could tell she was being deadly serious.

And, quick as a flash, the Watcher took his hand and pressed something into it: The thing she had held tight in her right hand. Then, as if that's all she intended to do, the Watcher ran off across the road and slipped between two buildings.

Katniss looked at her watch again. Twenty minutes. Ducking behind a garden fence so that Peeta didn't see her, she crawled along the length of the fence before bolting across the road and squeezing in between the same two buildings as the Watcher. She thought she would have to chase the blond but as soon as she got through, the woman was standing in the middle of the small slither of space, her back to Katniss.

"I thought you'd follow me," she stated.

"Oh did you now?" Katniss replied.

"Yes"- the woman turned her head and looked at her over her shoulder before smiling-"I did." She turned fully around and her smile widened, showing off two rows of pearly white teeth. "I'm the Watcher, but you can call me Delly."

"Delly?"

"Cartwright," Delly elbortated. "No need to introduce yourself Katniss Everdeen, I've been watching you for a while now."

"Is that why they call you 'The Watcher' maybe?" Katniss said with mock surprise. Delly laughed.

"Yes, it is," she answered.

Approaching the Watcher slowly, Katniss tugged nervously on the end of her braid and asked, "What is it you want with him?"

Delly feigned confusion and pursed her scarlet lips. "With who?" she asked.

"Don't play dumb with me," Katniss snapped. "The boy, you just gave him something, what is it you want with him?"

"Oh _him!_" Delly exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "Why, he's quite an enigma wouldn't you say? Has-what is it?-_three_ parties that need him for something he isn't aware of?"

"Three?"

"The council and their greedy hearts who want to have some AB negative for themselves, me who doesn't want to let such potential to go to waste and _you_ who is still conflicted on what you want from the boy," Delly answered, counting each one off with her fingers. "I want such a boy on my side of things. Hopefully the blood will convince him that I'm the right choice. Of course, if that doesn't work, there are . . . other ways . . ."

Katniss swallowed. "Leave him alone," she growled. "He is _my_ sire, he belongs to_ me._"

"Never knew you'd be the sort of person who'd be territorial," Delly replied. "I'm not sure whether to feel proud or threatened."

"Oh feel threatened," Katniss warned. "I've waited too long for this than to have it ripped from me by a prissy blond." Delly laughed again.

"Oh Miss Everdeen, how you do make me laugh," she chuckled. "You don't seem to understand. For all you know, Peeta Mellark could be consuming my blood right now. You wouldn't be able to stop him then, would you?"

No, she wouldn't.

Katniss bit the inside of her cheek and before she knew it, she had slapped the Watcher.

It was an impulse really when she'd raised her hand and slapped the girl across the cheek but she immediately regretted it. The smile had melted off Delly's face and her eyes darkened. "You really shouldn't have done that," she growled. Katniss heard a hiss and she felt immediately sick as Delly bared her fangs at her.

Katniss had never been in a fledgling on vampire fight before, heck she hadn't even been in a fledgling on fledgling fight before, but she seemed to feel like she knew what to do when Delly lunged at her. Her fangs sprouted as anger washed over her and she jumped right back to meet her half way.

Slamming against the Watcher felt like banging into a steel wall. Katniss was knocked backwards and she yelped as her back hit into the side of one of the buildings. Delly jumped at her but Katniss was prepared this time and swiped her leg underneath the blond's feet, sending her flying to the ground. An urge suddenly overcame her. The want to be the person who beat the Watcher. To be the one who freed the vampire world of the burden that was Delly Cartwright.

In a fit of rage, Katniss screamed and bit into Delly's arm. The girl screamed back as blood ran down her arm, kneeing her in the stomach. Biting back a shriek of pain, Katniss' knees buckled out from underneath her. Determined to win, she dragged Delly down to the ground with her.

When she ripped her teeth out, she spat the girl's blood out, not wanting to swallow. Delly punched her in the jaw, the blood from her arm splattering everywhere. Katniss was about ready to let all hell run loose when something cut her off.

"Katniss?"

She looked up, remainants of Delly's blood dripping down her chin, to see Peeta standing in the slit between the buildings, staring at her in shock.

"Peeta!" Katniss gasped, cupping her hand over her mouth to cover the blood and pushing Delly away from her. "I can explain!"

"I really hope so," Peeta replied.

"I can, I swear!"

This was going to be interesting.

_**A/N: The mortals consuming vampire blood idea came from this old vampire series called 'Moonlight.' It's pretty good. They only made one series though sadly.**_

_**Please R&R :D**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Here's a long one for ya guys! Hope you enjoy it! :-D**_

_**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own the Hunger Games.**_

Chapter Nine

The air seemed thick as Delly jumped to her feet and glared at Katniss. Her blood dripped down her arm, dripping off the tips of her fingers, but she barely noticed it. "Touch me again and it'll be much worse," she hissed. She turned to Peeta, who still looked shocked into silence. "Remember what I told you. The offer still stands." After that, she turned and disappeared. Most likely she ran. To the untrained eye vampires who run just vanish because they're moving so fast.

Katniss got to her feet cautiously and took a step towards Peeta. He took a step back. "Look Peeta, whatever she gave you, you can't take it. Don't look at it, touch it, don't even breathe on it. It's dangerous."

"Oh, and I should believe _you_?" Peeta replied. Another drip of blood ran out of her mouth and Katniss cursed, wiping it off with the back of her hand. Her fangs wouldn't retract for some reason.

"Yes! That girl isn't the good guy! She's a Watcher or something or other . . ." Katniss answered. "I'm the good guy! Sort of . . ."

"What _are_ you?" asked Peeta. There was a distance between them and Katniss wished it wasn't there but she knew if she tried to approach him he'd just back away. She couldn't blame him: she probably looked like a right state right now.

Katniss held her arms out and sighed. "I'm a fledgling."

"A _what?_"

"An untrained vampire. We become full vampires when we drink from our sires," Katniss explained, hoping she'd help Peeta see that she wasn't a physchopath.

"Your _who_?"

Katniss felt bad for Peeta. He was probably completely lost right now, unsure whether he was hallcunating or not. "Look, I can't talk about this out in the open," Katniss said. "We're too exposed. If you come back to my house I'll explain everything. Prim is at a friend's house, we'll have plenty of time for me to tell you."

"You must be crazy if you think I'm going to go anywhere with you!" Peeta exclaimed. Katniss closed her eyes and shook her head.

"No, you have to. I can't leave you here now that you know what I'am without any answers. You'll come up with fanciful theories that will most likely get us killed," she said, holding her hand out to him. "Please, give me a chance."

He almost took her hand. He was so close. But at last minute he backed up and turned, bolting off through the buildings. Katniss groaned in frustration. She couldn't leave him to go, it'd be too dangerous. She had to get him before he got out into the open and started crying wolf.

"Peeta!" Katniss shouted, running after him. The world blurred around her, the only thing in her focus being Peeta. When she curved around him and cut off his exit, Peeta almost ran right into her but managed to skid to a stop. "Please let me explain!"

"How do I know you're not going to . . . you know, 'drink me' or whatever you do?" The blond asked.

Katniss sighed. "You don't. But I want to ask you to trust me," she said. "Please?"

Eventually she got him to her house but it took a lot of shouting, dragging and one threat to leave a bite mark so big on his shoulder that he'd never be able to wear wifebeaters ever again. She had to push him into her bedroom and barricade the door so he wouldn't try to escape. Although that seemed unlikely as he seemed to calm down considerably once she had washed all the blood off her face.

"Okay, I can't pretend I know what's going on," Peeta says, sitting down on her bed once she came out of the en suite bathroom. "But I'm prepared to listen to you."

"Thank you," Katniss replied, pulling a chair out from under her desk and sitting across from him.

Peeta looked ready to give her his undivided attention so she took a deep breath and began to explain everything. He listened carefully and nodded every now and then throughout the story. It was easier than she thought it would be to spill everything out to him. It felt good, like a weight was being lifted off of her shoulders. She was careful to scoot around the topics that involved him for now though.

When she finished, Katniss exhaled. "And that's pretty much it," she said.

"Okay, I think I understand," Peeta said, running a hand through his hair. "But, you say if you want to become a vampire you'd have to drink your . . . what was it? Sire?" Katniss nodded. "But then . . . where is _your_ sire?"

Katniss bit her lip and winced. She'd hoped to have avoided this for a little bit longer. "Closer than you think," she huffed.

"Why don't you just drink him then?"

"Believe me, you _don't_ want me to do that," Katniss said.

"Why not?" Peeta asked.

Dropping her gaze, Katniss reached out and took his wrist, pulling his sleeve up slightly and pointing at the two round bite marks. "Because I already tried."

There's a long pause as Peeta just stares at his wrist, completely dumbstruck. "So it wasn't a dream," he murmered under his breath.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Katniss said. "What you drew was completely real." Peeta frowned and looked up at her through the hair that had fallen over his eyes.

"What I what?" he asked.

"Huh?" Katniss replied, wincing as she realized what she'd just said.

"You said, 'What you drew was completely real,'," Peeta said. "When did you see what I drew?"

"Uh . . ."

"_That_ wasn't a dream either?!" he exclaimed. "You actually _were_ in my room last night!"

"Yes, well, no. Okay yeah but I didn't break in or anything! I was looking for another AB negative-you know the quest I was telling you about?-and your bedroom window was open!"

"So you thought, '_Oh look the window's open! I can just come on in_'?!" Peeta frowned.

"Well, no," Katniss replied. "I'm not crazy or anything. Or a stalker! It's just-"

"Did you give me this?" Peeta pulled down the collar of his shirt and Katniss' eyes widened when she saw a hickey on his neck.

"Yes," she sighed. "But I'm not a molester either!"

"You're not doing very well for yourself," Peeta replied, cupping a hand over the hickey nervously.

"Okay, I'll explain," Katniss said. "Since you're my sire, I'm attracted to _your_ blood. It's like a siren calling me to come and drink it all. It's kind of like the way normal human beings would get aroused when they see naked bodies or tight clothes that hug those bodies. And sometimes we can't handle it and lose control momentarily . . ."

Peeta seemed to be mulling over her words. His thoughtful frown deepened as he came to some sort of conclusion in his thoughts and he asked, "What's my blood type?"

"What?" Katniss squeaked.

"I have a theory but I need you to tell me what my blood type is," he explained. "What is it?"

Katniss hung her head and mumbled, "AB negative."

"I thought so," he mumbled back.

"I'm not taking you to the council if that makes you feel any better," Katniss said. "I'm going to find someone else."

"I thought you said 'AB negative blood is as common as flying pigs'?"

"Well it is but . . ." How could she explain to him why she didn't want to give him to the council? A weird feeling she gets when she's around him? Something deep down inside her that she doesn't want to let go of? " . . . I'm almost sure I'll find someone else."

"Will you die if you don't?" Peeta asked. Katniss sighed and nodded.

"Eventually yes. The council will let me waste away and die."

"But I thought you_ didn't_ die if you drank your sire?" Peeta questioned.

Why with all the questions?! It was beginning to exhaust her just listening and answering. She knew she couldn't lie to him though, it would be impossible. So she'd have to tell him what the council really want.

"I'd die because if I fail to get another AB negative by the end of the week they're going to take you," Katniss explained. "If that happens I won't have a sire and I'll die."

"They're going to take . . . me?" he asked, barely able to comprehend it.

"Yes," Katniss replied. "You. And that's why Delly wants you as well. Because she likes to cause havoc apparently and if she manages to turn you then neither the council or me will get you. She's a right bitch that one."

"Wait . . . if the council didn't want my blood . . . were you going to kill me?" Peeta's eyes were wide and fearful. Katniss swallowed and rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

"I didn't want to," she admitted. "But eventually I'd probably have been forced to . . ."

They sat in silence. Katniss stood up and began to pace the room while Peeta seemed to be absorbing everything she'd told him. What was he going to think of it? She was kind of worried about him: he'd turned white as a sheet after she told him she'd probably of been forced to kill him eventually.

"Why did you turn?" Peeta asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Katniss replied.

"I want to know why you chose this life to live," Peeta explained. "I want to know why you wanted this life."

Katniss sat down on the other side of the bed so she wouldn't have to face him as she told him the truth of how she became who she was today. So they sat back to back.

"Five years ago I was coming home from my friend's house . . . it was late and I'd just turned thirteen a couple of days previous . . . I took a short cut down a dark alleyway that I thought would be safe enough. I was wrong. A dirty perverted old man who roamed the streets at night for prey found me and . . . raped me." Katniss took a shuddering breath and shook her head to clear it. "He left me bleeding in the gutter. I thought I was going to die. And then Madge found me."

"Madge?" Peeta asked. His voice was low and barely above a whisper.

"My mentor," Katniss clarified. "Her and her best friend Finnick found me. They took pity on me and tried to clean my wounds because it's technically against the rules to turn a child. It didn't work though, I was on the edge of life and I could feel it. Unable to bear watching me die, Madge slit her wrist, fed me her blood and then bit into my neck, draining me of my own blood. And that's what happened. She saved my life. And now her and Finnick are in danger because I don't want to kill you as my sire."

There's a pause and Katniss worried incase she'd finally said too much to make Peeta crack. Make him think she's a lunatic who thinks she's a fledgling when she's really just a mentally unstable girl.

"Do it."

Katniss turned to face the blond, a frown etched onto her features. "What?" she asked cautiously. He didn't turn to face her so she was staring at his back. "What did you say?"

"I said: Do it. Drink me Katniss." Peeta looked at her over his shoulder, his expression grave. "I'd rather it be you doing it than some council or having some woman trying to turn me into one of you. I have no escape from this, I can see that much . . . one of these parties you tell me of are going to win . . . somehow . . . and I'd rather it'd be you."

"Why?" Katniss asked. There's a pregnant pause while Peeta mulls over what he's going to say to her next.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you," he finally says. "You didn't deserve it. And if you've fought so long for survival I sure don't want to be the reason you don't suceed in it. I have nothing to live for. Please, do it." Peeta took his jacket off and as he did so Katniss got bombarded with the smell of his blood.

"Believe me," Katniss said almost dreamily. "It's not that I don't want to . . . it's that I can't . . ."

"Katniss, please, I'm offering it to you," Peeta replied. He turned around on the bed and took her hands. Almost hesitantly, he pulled his shirt sleeve down to expose his neck and shoulder and placed her fingertips ontop of his neck where his juglar would be located. Katniss felt his blood pulsing under her fingers and her mouth went dry. "It seems obvious that this was going to happen at some point anyway. To me, it seems that ever since the day I was born, my blood belonged to you."

"You believe in that sort of stuff?" Katniss frowned.

"Sort of," Peeta replied.

Katniss almost did it. She was very close to doing it. She had curled her hand around his shirt, completely overcome with the hunger and bloodlust, and pulled him closer to her. Her hand had crept up his back and tugged on his hair, pulling his head back to expose his neck more. Peeta was compliant to what she did to him and shut his eyes as her nose skimmed where her fingertips had previously lay on his juglar. She wanted to do it, oh boy did she want to. Her mind practically begged her to sink her teeth into his soft skin and suck all of his sweet nectar out.

But something stopped her.

Instead of baring her teeth, she pressed her lips against the vien. "Give me more time," she murmered into his skin. "I promise I'll find someone else."

"And if you don't"- Peeta said, his breathing turning heavy as her hand stays holding his head back. "You come to me on Sunday night. And if you don't do that then I'll come to you."

"Fine," Katniss whispered. She stayed with her nose nestled in the curve of his neck for a while, inhaling the scent of his AB negative blood, letting it work on her senses like a drug. Peeta didn't seem to mind. He just sat there and let her.

"If I had to be anyone's sire I'm glad it was yours," he murmered. "I mean, there's no one else I'd trust more than you Katniss."

"Why's that?" Katniss asked.

"I've . . . liked you for years," Peeta admitted. He liked _her? _Out of all the people in 12 to like he chose _her? _"You have no idea, the effect you can have."

"Oh really?" Katniss scoffed.

"Think about it: I've barely been in your home an hour and you've convinced me that laying my life down at your feet is the best decision I'll ever make."

Katniss let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and Peeta shivered as her breath tickled his skin. She pulled away from him, embarrassed. "Sorry," she said. She could feel herself turning red.

"It's fine Katniss," Peeta replied. "I mean, now I know you're telling me the truth. No girl in her right mind would spend ten minutes just sitting there smelling someone's neck."

"You obviously haven't met Johanna Mason then," Katniss smiled in reply. Peeta returned the smile almost bashfully.

"Katniss . . . what was it that Delly gave me?" he asked, his face turning serious. Katniss swallowed nervously.

"Her blood," she answered. "If you consume it you will feel the way a fledgling does for a short amount of time. When most mortals drink a vampire's blood then they end up begging to be turned because they want to feel like it forever. For those who last long enough the humanity in their blood usually wins out and they become human again. That's why to be turned you are fed your mentor's blood and then drained of your own."

"I see," Peeta replied quietly.

"It'd be best if you just give it to me," Katniss said. "Sometimes the temptation wins out."

"I don't have it. I went back to the bakery and left it in my room. Delly told me to keep it safe so I put it somewhere safe."

"Go get it. Please," she said. "I'd feel much more comfortable if I had it."

"You know I won't drink it right?" Peeta asked.

"Yes, it's just so I can get rid of it," Katniss replied.

"Okay, hold on, I'll go get it now. Shouldn't take too long. Be back in a couple of minutes." Peeta surprised Katniss by hugging her before quickly exiting her room.

Katniss sat on her bed and waited nervously for him to return. Only he didn't. In fact, Peeta didn't come back all night. She searched for him the next day in a panic but she couldn't find him anywhere. She asked his dad at the bakery but he said that Peeta had left at 11:00pm last night and didn't come back all night.

When she got back to her apartment, it was already dark again. She'd wasted her entire second last day of searching, trying to find Peeta instead of another AB negative. Katniss sat down on her bed and ran her hand through her hair in frustration when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Katniss," Prim said on the other side of the call. "I'm going to spend another night at Rory's, okay?"

Rory Harwthrone is Prim's best friend. His big brother Gale went missing four years ago and Prim had been there it comfort him and their friendship just kind of blossomed from there. Katniss sometimes worries that they get up to more than they let on but she can't loom over her little sister like a second shadow anymore.

"Okay Prim," she replied. "Have fun."

"Thanks!" Prim hung up immediately without even saying goodbye. Katniss tried not to worry too much about that.

As soon as she pocketed her phone again, the front door knocked. Katniss went down the stairs, wondering who could be here at this time of night, and unlocked it. She swung the door open and was shocked at what stood before her.

Peeta leant against her doorway, clad out in a leather jacket and black skinny jeans with matching converse-he looked like he'd just gotten off a motorcycle. His skin was porcelin pale and his blue eyes almost gleamed in the light streaming in through her open doorway. He wore a smirk and the blond of his hair seemed to glow like Madge's sometimes does. Katniss dragged her eyes up his arm as he held something in between his thumb and index finger.

Delly's vial.

Which was empty.

He'd drank it all.

Peeta was now a temporary fledgling.

Could this get any worse?

"Katniss," Peeta said. His voice almost sounded like a purr. It was smooth as silk and seemed to caress Katniss' nerves, gently stroking them to a calming lull. She looked up at him dreamily until five words came out of his mouth that made her thoughts grind to a halt. "I want to be turned."

Fuck.

_**A/N: Heheh you're in for some fun in the next chapter. It's when the 'M' rating properly comes into play! ^_^ **_

_**Please R&R! :D**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**I don't own the Hunger Games. Sadly.**_

Chapter Ten

"Peeta, you don't know what you're talking about," Katniss said, cautiously taking a step back from the boy.

"Why didn't you tell me it felt like this to be a fledlging?" Peeta asked, confidently walking into her house. He flashed her a smile, the same smile she had given to many mortals to whom she was about to give to Madge and Finnick for dinner: a smile of comfort and calming. "I feel like I can do anything and it feels wonderful!"

Katniss couldn't help feeling hynotised by how he looked and how he carried himself as a fledgling. The clothes he wore hugged him in all the right ways and her eyes trailed over every inch of him without her even realizing it. He just looked so . . . hot. Of course, Peeta had been always 'hot' in one way or another (she couldn't help but notice how his 'Mellark's bakery' shirt had clung tightly to his muscles when she went to the bakery with Prim) but this was a different sort of hot. This was ruggad hot. Bad boy hot. Almost . . .

Sexy.

Yes. That was the word. Sexy.

"Peeta, please, you don't know what your saying right now," Katniss insisted, trying to keep her eyes locked on his eyes and not anywhere else. "You're not yourself."

"I know, I'm a much better version of myself!" Peeta replied. "I feel invincible!"

Katniss remembered feeling like that when she was first turned. But she had Madge and Finnick to train her on how to behave and quell feelings like that. Peeta didn't have anyone. All she had to do though was somehow manage to keep him from getting her to turn him until his humanity finally took over again.

Peeta spun around in a 360 circle on his heel, examining her living room as if seeing it in a whole new light. He stopped when his back is to her and bent over to pick a pillow off the floor. Katniss' mouth went dry as her eyes were drawn to the way the skinny jeans tightened around his backside delectabely. The dull ache she had only ever recognized from her dreams formed between her thighs as a truck load of dirty thoughts ran through her head all at once. She had never felt like this before. Attraction to another person had been an alien thought for so many years that now there was a primal instinct inside her that wanted to explore it.

As if reading her thoughts and feeling her eyes boring into him, Peeta looked over his shoulder at her with a smug smirk on his face. He quirked an eyebrow at her in amusement and her face melted into a scowl.

"You don't have to make this so difficult," he said, taking a stroll around the room. He paused every now and then to examine a trinket on a shelf or a photo on the wall. "It would solve all our problems. You'd get to drink me and become a full vampire and I'd get to be a fledgling. Easy as."

"Not easy as," Katniss replied. "You don't understand all this Peeta, vampire blood inside you or not, you're still a mortal. If I became a vampire, who'd be your sire? If you had of been the one turned by Madge, _I'd_ have been _your_ sire. But I'm not. Because Madge turned me. And I don't have mortal blood in me anymore."

Peeta approached her, only stopping when he was inches away from her. Katniss looked him in the eye defiantly, refusing to let her gaze flick away. She would not be intimidated by a mortal poisoned by vampire blood.

"Why did you drink the blood?" Katniss asked him.

Peeta chuckled, somehow amused by the question. "I almost didn't," he replied. "I had the vial in my pocket and all, ready to return to you and give it back. But then I heard her."

"Heard who?"

"Delly. She spoke in my mind and convinced me to do it. To drink her blood and feel the night, the wind, the sun, the earth, everything all at once because she knew how _wonderful_ it was and wanted me to feel it too. Unlike _some _people," Peeta explained.

Katniss clenched her jaw and tried not to fall under the spell that was the raw beauty of a fresh fledgling. For a year after Madge turned her, she'd had hundreds of different vampires and fledglings trying to have their way with her. She was only thirteen then. _That_ was how powerful her looks were back then. It dulled down after a couple of years but until then you should really keep your mentor by your side to protect you. And that's what Katniss did. Finnick and Madge never left her behind.

And now they were in trouble.

"Give yourself a couple of hours," Katniss insisted. "If you still want me to turn you when you're yourself again well . . . we'll talk about it."

Peeta looked into her eyes and she almost got lost. Drowning in the sparkling bright blue of his irises. Was this how easy for others to get distracted around her? How odd. "You're lying," Peeta said, snapping her out of her trance. "I know you are. You know that when I'm back to my idiot self I'll not want to be turned. I'll offer my blood to you to save my life, sure, but I'd rather die than become one of you. I can read it now, in my thoughts. I want to die for you Katniss Everdeen and I have no idea why."

"I'm not going to kill you," Katniss replied firmly.

"For some reason I love you," Fledgling Peeta continued. "Ever since I first saw you I've watched you grow up. Right up until you were thirteen years old and disappeared for a while. I lived in the hope that you'd return and you did eventually. Why would I feel like that over . . . _you?_"

"I don't know, why don't you ask yourself that?" Katniss answered. She tried to ignore the fact that he basically just admitted that he'd loved her ever since he first saw her. This imposter of Peeta was invading the privacy of the Peeta that she had began to love herself. The sweet, kind, caring baker's boy who was all too willing to let her kill him if it meant her survival.

"I know the real reason why you won't turn me," Peeta said. He leant over so his mouth was mere inches away from her ear. Katniss steeled herself and held her breath. "It's because you like to be the one in control. To be the alpha, the one whose dominant. If you turned me"-he trailed his finger up and down her arm, the sensation it caused making her shiver-"then I'd be an equal match to you."

"That is _not_ the reason, believe me," Katniss replied. Peeta wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him.

"Prove it then," he replied.

Katniss wasn't sure whether it was the cockiness in his tone that made her want to prove him wrong, or the ever growing libido that was already boiling over that made her do what she did but he had seemed to have been waiting for it.

So when she smashed her mouth roughly against his and buried her hands into his hair, fisting the silken locks in her hands, Peeta recoperated immediately, wrapping his arms fully around her and lifting her off her feet slightly, massaging her lips open with his tongue. Katniss groaned as her own tongue melded with his and they furiously made out in the middle of her living room, both fighting to win the match of upper hand.

It's second nature for fledglings and vampires to want to be the one in charge. The one who has the final say in everything and anything. So it's always kind of rough when they attempt to be intimate or have sex with each other because it's a constant battle over who's the dominant one.

Lost in a euphoria, Katniss wrapped her legs around Peeta's waist and pulled his bottom lip between her teeth. Each moan he made sent a fresh jolt down to her core. Her back suddenly came in contact with the wall so she no longer needed to hang onto Peeta to keep herself up right. His hand trailed down her thigh and she gasped as he palmed that spot between her legs that had began to ache so much over her jeans. It felt so _good._

"Oh my god," Katniss groaned, tugging on Peeta's hair and burying her face into his neck, nipping under his jaw with her teeth. She slipped his jacket off his shoulders and tossed it away before slipping her hands under his t-shirt. It was then she paused and finally snapped out of her lustful state.

His skin was cold.

She had remembered how he had felt when she sat ontop of him in his bedroom on Thursday night. Heat radiated from his skin and made her feel warm inside when she had rested her hands on his chest as she bit his neck. When she left the hickey behind.

This reminded her of what he had done with Delly's blood and that he wasn't himself right now. This was not Peeta. This was an imposter of him.

Shutting her eyes, Katniss tried to think of something to help her focus on a way to stop all this before it got out hand. She turned her head to the side, pressing her face against the wall, and spied a lamp. This was going to be her only option wasn't it?

To make sure feldgling Peeta did not suspect anything, Katniss curled her hand into his shirt and pulled him into her for another kiss. While he greedily accepted the kiss, she reached out blindly for the lamp. She momentarily lost her train of thought when he bit her bottom lip, so desperately wanting to continue and finish what they'd started. But her mind chastised her and she fought against every fibre of her being, reaching the lamp and finally clasping it.

With one swift swing, she whacked Peeta across the temple with the lamp. The impact knocked him over but wouldn't have knocked him unconcious if it hadn't of been for the fact that he'd hit his head of the corner of her coffee table as he fell.

Katniss stood over his prone body for a moment before falling apart. "Oh my god, what have I done?!" she cried, falling to her knees and checking him for life signs. His pulse was normal and beating softly under his skin. She used the last of her strength to pull his head into her lap. "I'm so sorry Peeta," she murmered, resting her forehead against his. "I just had to do it. I couldn't let you make me turn you. You don't want this life, I swear you don't."

She wiped some hair off his forehead and gently kissed the gash that her coffee table gave him. How long she sat on the floor with him she didn't know, but when she finally got her strength back she heaved his body up and over her shoulder and carried him like a sack of flour over to the sofa.

Once laid down nice and comfy, Katniss covered Peeta with a blanket, hoping that when he woke up he would no longer be under the spell of Delly's blood

~XxX~

The first sign that he was turning back to normal came at 2:00am. Katniss sat on the coffee table for hours, simply watching the boy rest. Everything about him fascinated her. How every crease, every laughter line, every blemish and imperfection were somehow perfect to her and Katniss couldn't help thinking about how untaintedly beautiful he was. Maybe she was just being oversentimental. She didn't really know.

At some point as he had slept, Peeta had turned his back on Katniss on the sofa, but at 2:00am he turned back around and there, on both his cheeks, was a tint of pink. Katniss lurched off the coffee table and pressed a hand to his face.

Heat.

She could feel heat.

His skin was warm again.

"Thank god," she muttered, pressing her forehead onto the sofa chusion beside Peeta's arm.

The warmth that radiated from him seemed to envelop her and soothed her own cool, marble skin. Wanting to feel more of it, Katniss climbed onto the sofa and lay beside Peeta. She studied him carefully, waiting for him to wake up. He didn't though and Katniss found herself pressing into him, wanting to feel all of him. His warmth, his heat, everything and anything that made up _him._

Katniss suddenly remembered that if she hadn't of been turned into a fledgling, this boy would have been the boy she'd have married. So everything he said about loving her made sense. Because to marry there has to be love, right?

"Oh Peeta," she murmered sadly. "I've truely fucked up your life haven't I?"

The blond didn't respond and Katniss sighed. But, instead of saying anything, he wrapped his arms around her in his sleep and held her close. Somehow, she felt immediately comforted and melted into the embrace, closing her eyes and drifting out of conciousness herself.

~xXx~

The next morning she reluctantly slipped out of Peeta's arms and went into the kitchen to make some coffee. A groan slipped in from the living and she smiled to herself, opening the cupboard and taking out an extra mug.

When Katniss returned to the living room with two cups of coffee, Peeta looked up at her through squinted eyes. Propped up on his elbows, Katniss could immediately tell that he was back to himself again. His hair no longer gleamed and was a scruffed up mess ontop of his head. The blue of his eyes didn't glow anymore-but they still seemed to sparkle in the morning light-and he was no longer porcelin pale. She knew he could beat the spell.

"Coffee?" she asked.

"Please," he replied. Katniss smiled and handed Peeta her best spotty mug that she only used for special visitors. She sat down on the coffee table and took a sip of her own drink.

"So, how much can you remember?" she asked.

Peeta frowned as he drank some of his coffee. "Not a lot . . . just accidently drinking Delly's blood . . ." He paused. "What did I do while I was . . . you know . . . out?"

"Uh . . . not much. You came here, began talking a load of crap before passing out," Katniss lied. "You were a blood light weight." Peeta laughed at this.

"Sounds like me," he said. He gave himself the once over and frowned. "What the hell am I wearing?!"

"Don't ask me," Katniss shrugged. "Ask the fledgling in you."

"I didn't make an idiot of myself did I?"

Katniss looked back on last night. No, he certainly did not make an idiot of himself. In fact, she could still feel what it felt like to have his hand pressed against her crotch and . . . she kind of craved more of that touch. She shook her head. "No, you're good," she said.

Peeta winced and touched his forehead. "God, my head hurts."

"Yeah, you had a meeting with the edge of the coffee table when you passed out," Katniss explained. "Should heal up fine though." Peeta smiled and Katniss felt herself blush. She didn't even know she could blush anymore.

Prim suddenly entered the house, her overnight bag on her back. "Hey Katniss! Hi Peeta!" she cheered as she skipped through the living room and passed Peeta and Katniss on the way by. She paused at the entrance to the kitchen before backing up so she was back at the sofa. A sly grin crept up onto her face as she took in the current situation. "Peeta, what are you doing here?" she asked.

Katniss scowled. She could already predict what her sister thought had happened last night. "Peeta locked himself out last night and needed somewhere to stay," she explained. "Isn't that right Peeta?"

"Uh . . . yeah," Peeta replied, running a nervous hand through his hair. Primrose smirked and crossed her arms.

"Uh-huh," she said. "Sure."

"It's true!" Katniss protested. "Look!" She pulled the blanket fully off of Peeta and gestured to his clothes. "He doesn't even have pyjamas!"

Prim frowned. "Jeez Peet, have you ever heard of buying clothes to grow into them?" she asked, waving a hand at his tight fitting fledgling attire. Peeta blushed and Katniss gaped.

"Prim! Don't be so rude!" she snapped.

"Ooops, sorry," Prim grinned. "Just looks kinda dodgy ya know?"

"Prim, leave now," Katniss ordered. Prim's grin widened and she held her hands up in a surrender gesture.

"Okay, okay, I'm going. You kids have fun." Her little sister winked before skipping up the stairs to her bedroom.

"Sorry about her," Katniss said to Peeta.

"It's okay," he replied.

"She's just a kid. She can be so silly sometimes."

"I know, it's fine, honestly."

Katniss smiled thankfully and Peeta returned the gesture.

"But," he said, "We still have a lot to discuss."

"About what?"

"About what we're going to do tomorrow if you don't find an AB negative." Peeta's face turned serious as he said the last sentence so quietly Katniss could barely catch it. "About how you're going to drink my blood."

_**A/N: Hope you liked it! :D**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Sorry for the delay!**_

_**Warning: Smut in this chapter. I kind of suck at smut so please cut me some slack! Thanks! ^_^**_

_**I don't own the hunger games.**_

Chapter Eleven

"You're hungry."

"What?" Katniss asked, a bit sharper than she'd intended. Peeta regarded her with sad eyes and she felt every wall she'd ever built up over the years open up under his gaze. Not fall apart or crumble away, open up willingly to let him in.

"You're hungry," Peeta repeated.

They were sitting in her bedroom after saying goodbye to Prim once more as she left again to go into town with some friends. The girl was barely in the house nowadays. Katniss was conflicted on whether she should be glad about this or not. Because soon she'd be leaving and she'd never see her sister again but then if she wasn't gone a lot she wouldn't be able to sort out this issue with Peeta.

"No, I'm not. I'm fine," Katniss lied. She pretended to busy herself with sorting out her desk.

"Your stomach has growled at least five times since we came up here. Isn't there anything you can eat other than blood?" Peeta asked.

"Not really no," Katniss answered. "There's fleshies out there but they won't be any good to me until I'm a vampire."

"Fleshies?"

Katniss paused. How would she explain a fleshie to Peeta without giving him any fanciful ideas?

"A fleshie is mortal who knows what we are but are willing to keep silent because they want to help our case," she explained. "They offer their blood through their wrists to a vampire as long as the vampire promises not to drink it all away. Most of them are women but there's a couple of male fleshies out there . . ." Her stomach growled at the thought of feeding off a fleshie and she internally cursed, hoping to Meredith Peeta didn't hear it.

The blond's eyes immediately locked on her stomach and he frowned. "You _are_ hungry."

"No I'm not. I'm fine." Now all she could think about was feeding. Damn it this was his fault. She couldn't think straight at all now and all she could focus on was how empty her stomach felt.

"Here," Peeta said, pulling his sleeve up and offering her his wrist. "You can't not eat."

"No, Peeta," Katniss replied, pushing his wrist away. "I don't think I'd be able to stop myself if I started."

Peeta smiled softly. "I trust you." He took her hand and wrapped it around his wrist, over the fang marks cut deep into the skin. Katniss' eyes crossed as his scent invaded her senses and very nearly passed out because of how delicious he smelt.

Knowing that he wasn't going to change his mind, Katniss' fangs grew and she hissed. Peeta steeled himself, not showing fear, and held his arm out to her straighter. Katniss looked up at him and said, her voice breathy and animalistic, "You know, eventually, you're going to have to stop me."

And with that, she bit into him.

The blood rushed into her mouth and tasted so magnficent Katniss sucked greedily at his wrist, enjoying every last drop. It filled her stomach and statisfied her hunger. She groaned and clutched Peeta's arm tightly, desperately, her fingernails digging sharply into his skin. It was when he began to grow weak underneath her that she realized what he was doing.

Peeta wasn't going to stop her.

He was trying to let her drink him dry.

Katniss wrenched her teeth out of him and gasped as his eyes rolled behind his head and he fell against her headboard. "Peeta!" She climbed ontop of him and slapped him across the cheek. "Wake up damnit! You idiot! Why did you do that?!" The boy didn't respond and Katniss cried out in frustration, ripping a piece of her duvet up and wrapping it tightly around his wrist to quell the bleeding. "Why did you do that?! You're such a stupid idiot!"

Peeta stayed laying there, unresponsive, his eyes peacefully closed.

"Don't die Peeta please!" Katniss began, grabbing him by his shirt and shaking him. "Don't die Peeta! Don't die!" She buried her face in his chest and began to sob hysterically. "You can't die, please," she whimpered.

No, it was too soon. Peeta couldn't die. He couldn't. Not now. Not after she hit him with a lamp. Katniss clutched his shirt and cried.

"Katniss?" His voice was weak and Katniss immediately snapped her head up to look at him. Peeta's eyes were open and Katniss' spirits rose as she saw the comforting bright blue again.

"Oh my god Peeta you scared me!" Katniss exclaimed. Without really thinking, she grabbed him and kissed him. Peeta was momentarily startled but actually kissed her back. "You scared me to death," Katniss murmered against his lips.

"I'm sorry," he replied. "I had to try."

She didn't know what it was but once she'd gotten started, she really didn't want to stop. Maybe it was the desperation she felt when she thought he was going to die or the lust that had been building up inside her for a long time now, either way, she wanted more. The same sort of feeling washed over her that she'd felt that night in Peeta's bedroom. Katniss pressed her lips harder against his and wrapped her arms around his neck. Peeta sat up and leant against her headboard, his arms winding around her waist.

Katniss had never made out with someone apart from the previous night with fledgling Peeta and she still felt inexperienced but when his tongue ran over her bottom lip, she knew to open her mouth and let him in. Her hands raked through Peeta's hair while he relocated his lips to her neck. She groaned and tugged on the handful of silken locks she was clinging to to tell him to keep going.

"We . . . should . . . stop . . ." Peeta murmered in between kisses.

"Yeah," Katniss agreed. Neither of them did though. Katniss sat down on his lap, both of them groaning as their centers met together over the thin material of their clothes.

Peeta's hands slipped under her shirt and stroked the flesh of her hips as he continued his attack on her neck. He may not have been a vampire or fledgling but he sure could suck on her pulse point perfectly. Katniss clawed at his back in desperation, her hands finding the hem of his shirt. She buried her hands underneath, her body delighted by the heat it met. Peeta flinched as her cold hands ran hungrily up his sides, dragging his shirt up with it.

When the garment was completely off, Katniss ripped her own shirt off and pressed herself against him, bathing in the body heat that warmed her soul. Peeta's hands travelled up her back, spreading the warmth everywhere.

"You're so cold," he murmered.

"You're so warm," Katniss replied, burying her face into his neck and groaning. She hadn't felt warm in years. She felt Peeta's hand hover uncertainly over the clasp of her bra and she reached behind herself, took his hand and pressed it against the clasp. "Please," she begged.

When he undid the clasp, Katniss felt Peeta's pulse quicken. Fledglings were generally proud of their bodies and Katniss didn't think she that much of an abnormal breast size anyway but she worried about what Peeta would think of them. The look in Peeta's deep blue eyes when he saw her bare chest told her otherwise though and she felt suddenly proud.

"You're so beautiful," he murmered. His hands tightened on her waist and she took his hand and pressed it against her breast, telling him it was okay. Heat swarmed through her on contact and she groaned again. Peeta looked in an almost dreamlike state before squeezing her breast experimentally. Katniss moaned and buried her face back into his neck, peppering kisses up his neck and jaw.

Peeta pulled away suddenly and Katniss wondered what he was doing until he took her nipple into mouth and sucked on it. Katniss screamed in pleasure, her head falling back in ecstasy. As he alternated his ministrations on her chest, she wondered what she could do to make him feel what she was feeling.

On impulse, Katniss buried her hand between their bodies and grasped onto the bulge that was growing in Peeta's jeans. Peeta gasped and groaned as she alternated pressure and Katniss suddenly felt the power the vampires craved. She understood why they wanted it so much.

The rest of their clothes were lost sometime during the haze and somehow Katniss ended up on her back on the bed. Her hands raked through Peeta's hair as he slid his hand down her stomach to where there was the aching pressure she had been so curious about. When he slipped a finger inside her, she let out a guttral moan and kissed him to silence the pleasurable scream she felt building up in her chest. He rubbed her clit and she pulled his bottom lip between her teeth.

She was on fire. She was burning and flickering, ready to explode.

"Peeta," Katniss gasped. "I need you."

"Are-are you sure?" Peeta asked. She pulled him closer to her in response and wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Please," she begged.

He entered her slowly, hesitantly. It didn't hurt as much as she'd thought it would and the little pain that she did feel was soon replaced by pleasure any way so it hardly mattered. "Am I hurting you?" Peeta whispered.

Katniss ran her nose along his jaw and moaned. "Not at all," she whispered back.

When he began to move, Katniss felt everything. Love, hate, pleasure, pain. She welcome it all and let it all over come her. It felt amazing. Wonderful. It made her want to smile, cry and burst out laughing all at once. It was like she was climbing a mountain, with Peeta, and once they reached the top they held hands and jumped over the edge.

When they landed at the bottom, Peeta fell ontop of her, exhausted. She smiled and played with his hair. "You okay?" he murmered into her chest.

"Uh-huh," she replied.

"No regrets?"

"None."

She felt him smile into her and she traced patterns into his back. A chill was creeping back up her spine so she held him closer to her, wanting to stay warm for a little while longer. They fell asleep, tangled together, and Katniss had the best sleep she had had in years.

When she awoke though, Peeta wasn't there. She felt cold again. Sunlight streaked through the curtains and she bolted upright on the bed. How long had she been asleep? She'd missed it! She'd sleep the entire night. Time she could have used to look for another AB negative.

There was a letter on her pillow.

_Katniss,_

_After last night, I realize that there is no way I can let you die. I guess there was always a part of me that wasn't going to let it happen anyway but my love for you has grown and blossomed since the time I've spent with you. I guess making love to you really didn't help that . . . yet I still don't regret it. I hope you still don't._

_I know how stubborn you are and I know that even now, even when you cannot find another AB negative, you won't drink me. You'd rather just let yourself die . . . I can't let that happen._

_Your friend Madge visited last night while you slept. It was kind of odd seeing someone jump through your bedroom window but I guess that comes with living the supernatural life. I spoke to her and, as you are reading this, she is taking me to these 'careers'. To make it easy on both you and me, I'm giving myself to them. So that they can be the ones to do the horrid deed. You will no longer be burdened with the decision on whether to kill me or not._

_I have one request Katniss:_

_Please don't forget me._

_I love you,_

_Peeta._

Katniss crumpled the letter up in her hand and leapt out of bed. She quickly pulled her clothes on and ran head first at the first mirror she could find. Of course she didn't know the code for the council room and she rammed head first into the mirror in her room, causing it to shatter around her.

She passed out with one thought in her mind.

_I can't let Peeta die._

_**A/N: Duh, duh, duh! :O**_

_**Please R&R! :D**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long delay! **_

_**Do you like the new story cover thingy? I made it myself! I'm actually quite proud of it ^_^**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games**_

Chapter Tweleve

"Madge!" Katniss screamed into the empty building site. "Madge! Get out here and face me! NOW!"

Katniss had come to an hour ago, panicked and freaking out. She knew where to find Madge, the woman always hung out at the building site because that was the location of one of the mirror gateways. More importantly, Madge's most used mirror gateway. She couldn't believe her mentor had betrayed her like this. She knew that Katniss was taking care of the Peeta situation in her own way but the woman still went behind her back and took him from her. Katniss wasn't sure if she could forgive her for that.

"Madge!" She refused to stop screaming until her mentor showed up. Her lumionous blonde hair glowed like a nyan highlighter in the dark light of the building site. It was dusk but there was still no sign of the sun yet.

At first, Madge ignored Katniss. She picked at the stones dug up by the regular builders who worked there, refusing to met her eye. She slowly made her way to Katniss and when they were metres apart, she finally raised her gaze to look at her face.

"What is it Katniss?" The question was supposed to be hostile and acidic but just came out as a broken whisper.

"How could you?" Katniss asked, balling her hands into fists. "How could you do that?"

Madge shook her head and covered her face with her hands. "You don't know what the council is capable of Katniss if they don't get their way. I was coming to warn you last night about the limited time you had left when I found"-she removed her hands from her face, her eyes flashing red-"_him, _in your bed. You fucked him didn't you?"

Katniss growled, her top lip curling in disgust. "That's none of your business."

Her mentor grunted. "You did then, you idiot!" The blonde kicked the ground, unsettling dust and stones. "You were fucked from the start Katniss! You should have just drank him! But you didn't! You got emotionally attatched instead! Which I told you not to do!"

"I was going to sort it out-" Katniss grew frustrated as Madge interuppted her once more.

"And now that boy loves you Katniss," she said. "He fucking loves you and it's your fault. He asked me to take him to the Careers and yes, I took him. I wasn't going to say no to him. Because he loved you and did not want to be killed by you."

Katniss shook her head. "You didn't have to take him," she whispered. "No one forced you to do it."

"Correct," Madge replied. "But you didn't see him Katniss. He was a mess."

Katniss' vision blurred as tears pricked in the corner of her eyes. "I could have killed him gently. Made him comfortable and did it slowly so it wasn't painful." It was in that moment that she realized that she had no idea how the Careers killed mortals. "Take me to the Council."

Madge sighed and tugged on her white blouse nervously. "It's a horrifying process Katniss," she said. "You don't want to see it."

"Take me to them," Katniss insisted. "Maybe I can talk them out of-"

"What?" Madge said. "Talk them out of what? There's nothing you can do Kat. It's too late. The process has begun. As soon as I handed him over, that was it. The decision was sealed-"

"What are they going to do to him?" Katniss demanded to know.

"I can't tell you-"

"Tell me!" Katniss screamed.

Madge looked taken aback by Katniss' screaming at her but recovered quickly, the shock on her face only lasting on her face for a second before disappearing again into an unreadable mask. "Normally, if he had been a virgin, they would have taken that from him. Luckily, you saved him from that. But . . . they'll strip him of his dignity, make him angry so that his blood is hot and at it's most delicious point, then . . . then . . ."

"What Madge, what?" Katniss insisted.

"Once boiling with anger, blood tastes the best when it's awash with . . . with . . ."

"Oh my god Madge, just say it already!"

"Lust!" Madge snapped. "They're gonna make him fucking horny alright?! Then they'll fucking drink him! You happy?!"

Katniss fell silent. That wasn't what she was expecting Madge to say. The council couldn't possibly do that to Peeta, could they? Then again, since Cato had disappeared, three quarters of the council were women. Glimmer and Clove. Could they manage . . . ?

"Take me there," Katniss said. Madge's eyes widened in horror.

"What?"

"Either take me there or give me the mirror code for the council room," Katniss said. "I'm going to get him."

"Katniss, you can't-"

"I'm not letting Peeta die like that Madge!" Katniss yelled. "It's not fair! He hasn't done anything wrong, why should he die in such a horrific way?! No, I'm going to get him, and I'm going to drink him in a way that gives him dignity."

"Katniss, please-"

"No Madge! It's not fair! You're right, he loves me! And . . . and . . . I love him! I'm _not_ letting the Careers do this to him! And you owe me. So let me go to them. Let me save him."

Madge scoffed and shook her head. "You're mad," she muttered.

"Just let me save him," Katniss begged. "Please."

Her mentor sighed and took her hand, tracing a serious of patterns into her palm. Katniss memorized each stroke of her finger to memory. "That's the code to the council room. You can go on your own. You found your sire. They released Finnick because I gave them Peeta. You're no longer my burden," Madge said.

With those last words, she disappeared.

Repeating the pattern over and over in her mind, Katniss hurried to the gate way mirror and traced the sequence onto her reflection. Taking one last look at the building site behind her. She steeled herself and whispered, "I'm coming Peeta."

Then stepped through the mirror.

_**A/N: Please R&R! :)**_


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long guys! :o_

_I don't own the Hunger Games_

Chapter Thirteen

As soon as Katniss passed through the mirror, she was tackled to the ground. Her arms pinned to the floor and a knife held to her neck. She struggled helplessly, trying to unseat the attacker on top of her. The blade pressed harder against her skin and she cried out as it sizzled on her skin. Katniss cried out in pain. Holy water. The blade was stoked in holy water.

"Don't hurt her!" A familiar voice yelled.

"Peeta!" Katniss shouted. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm-ow!" Peeta yelped in pain and Katniss screamed in fury.

"You hurt him and I swear on the book of Meredith that I will fucking spear you through with garlic bread drenched in fucking holy water!" she roared.

"Well, looky here," Clove purred. She appeared beside the attacker-who Katniss guessed was probably one of the council's puppets. "Well isn't little greedy Everdeen returning for her sire. You going to drink him Kat or are we going to have to do it for you?"

"You bitch!" Katniss screamed at her. The person ontop of her dragged her to her feet and pushed her forward on her knees. She hit the floor and grunted. Her eyes immeidately scanned the Council room to take in the situation.

The first thing she noticed was Peeta. He sat on the top of the steps leading to the council member's thrones. Katniss realized with terror that his shirt was ripped right down the middle and in tatters on his shoulders and arms. There was bite marks _everywhere. _On his neck, chest, shoulders, sides-Katniss took a wild guess that there were probably a lot on his back too. They weren't deep. If they had of been deep they would have killed him by now. No, these were tease bites. Bites to wet their apetites. The council members weren't known for taking things quickly. They liked to go slow, savour things. Katniss dreaded to think how hard they bit him.

Peeta looked ashamed for what he'd done, asking Madge to take him there, and remorseful about the marks on his skin. Glimmer sat on his right, her body snugly pressed against his side. She idly stroked one of the bites, a large punture on his chest that was rimmed with dark red lipstick, while her nose skimmed under his jaw, greedily smelling the blood that rapidly pumped in his juglar.

"How generous of you," purred Glimmer. "Too bad it's too late."

"I'm not here to drink him, I'm here to take him home," Katniss snarled. "Let me die! Just leave him alone!"

"Katniss! No!" Peeta exclaimed. "You can't die!"

"Neither can you!" Katniss said.

"You've had enough time Everdeen," Clove snapped. She moved to the thrones and sat on the other side of Peeta, only not as close as Glimmer was currently sitting. "It's time for us to take matters into our own hands."

"And by hands we mean-"

"I know what you think you're going to do!" Katniss snapped. "Madge told me. And if you lay a fucking finger on him you'll fucking regret it!" As she spoke this, she noticed Marvel for the first time since she'd came through the mirror. He sat on his throne, looking thoroughly bored with the whole thing.

"Katniss please, you can't do this," Peeta pleaded. "I can't let you die!"

"I can't let _you_ die!" Katniss sobbed. Tears of desperation were curling in the corners of her eyes and she struggled helplessly against the person restraining her. "You can't die when I just realized I love you, please don't die Peeta. I can't let you die! Do you even know what they're going to do to you? It awful, and horrific and degrading and I can't let them do it to you because you deserve so much more. So much more than me, or this and all this bullshit!"

Glimmer laughed, clearly amused by the whole performance. Her fangs glinted in the light and when she grinned, they poked out of her blood red lips menacingly. "Oh dear Katniss, sweet dear Katniss. Alright. We'll give you one more chance. Drink him, then that's it. All over. We won't arouse him, you can drink the blood whatever way you want."

Katniss didn't know what to do. They weren't going to let him go, that much was obvious. And when she looked at him through her blurry eyes, all she could see was his own desperation to keep her safe. The same desperation she had to keep _him_ safe. Glimmer's eyes flashed, possessing Katniss, and demanded that she came forward. Unable to resist the career's powers, Katniss came forward.

"Drink him," she said forcefully. Both herself and Clove moved out of the way and headed towards their thrones. Katniss looked down on Peeta fearfully. She could barely make him out through the tears in her eyes and she slowly slid to her knees.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered to him.

"Katniss, I'm going to die," Peeta said ruefully. "And I'd rather it be by your hand than theirs. Their way sounds more . . . painful. Please, if you love me like you say, drink me to save yourself."

"I can't," Katniss whimpered.

"You have to please. If you ever loved me, you will drink me right now." He took Katniss' face into his hands and kissed her. Their tears mingled with each other's and she could taste their saltiness on her lips. She clutched his hair desperately, wanting to hang onto him forever. This was all on her fault. All her fault.

The hands on her face moved her head gently, nestling it in the crook of Peeta's neck. Katniss gasped as the smell of AB negative filled her senses and her fangs grew out in a lustful reflex. She still grasped his hair in her hands, tightly holding his locks to keep him close to her. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too Katniss," Peeta whispered back.

"Stay with me?" she asked.

Peeta exhaled shakily. "Always."

She bit him and sucked. His arms were around her waist, and his hold on her tightened as her teeth pierced through his skin and punctured his artery. The blood was everything it had been made up to be, but Katniss couldn't focus on it. All she could do was cry as Peeta grew weaker and weaker in her arms. He was going to die. He was going to die. She was killing him.

"Katniss! Stop!" Someone screamed. Katniss ripped her teeth out of Peeta's neck, her head flinging behind her in shock. Madge stood in the council room, Finnick by her side. Both were kitted out with bottles of holy water, cloves of garlic, stakes and crucifixes. The blonde mentor held a cross out and pointed it at the careers.

"Anyone moves and you're toast!" she snapped at them. The careers were horrified at the rebellious behaviour but could do nothing about it. They were trapped.

Finnick ran towards Katniss and helped her drag Peeta's body across the room. Blood was pouring out of the punture she'd made his neck like a waterfall. "He's going to die!" Katniss cried, falling helplessly to the floor and dragging him down with her. She cradled him in her arms and rocked back and forth. Her hand cupped over the wound on his neck, putting pressure on it to try and stop the bleeding. "Don't die Peeta, please. I need you. Please don't die on me, please. I love you. Come on, please!"

"Cure him now!" Madge screamed, unscrewing a bottle of holy water and holding it threateningly at the careers. "NOW!"

"There's nothing we can do," Marvel shrugged. "The boy shall die."

"NO!" Katniss screamed, holding the unconcious body close to her own. She was bordering on hysterical as she cradled him and she buried her nose into his hair, silently crying into it.

"There's one thing you could do," Finnick said.

"What?!" Katniss demanded, her head coming out of his hair, eyes shining with hope.

Finnick sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You could turn him."

_A/N: So guys, what do you think? To turn or not to turn? _

_P.S: The guest reviewer who yelled at me for hating Twilight, thanks, your comments made me chuckle. Since you did post the same thing twice. Thanks for the laugh! :)_

_Please R&R! :)_


	14. Chapter 14

_I do not own the Hunger Games_

Chapter Fourteen

Katniss' mouth dropped in horror. "I can't turn him! It wouldn't work! He wouldn't have a sire, it wouldn't work!" she yelled. "Sure, he'd be alive for a while but he'd end up dying in the end. It defeats the purpose! It would just take longer for him to go!"

Finnick shook his head and walked up to the bottom step, standing before the thrones. "I know that you know the way it could work," he said in a low voice. "You really shouldn't have let me have a copy of the Book of Meredith because I read it over and over and over again until I knew it all off by heart."

Glimmer's bloody lips turned up in a lop sided grin and her green eyes glittered. "Oh really?" she purred. "And what did you find?"

"_Upon a mortal's turn reside, who has no sire to save it's hide, the aurelian immunizer shall stop the clock to end the individual's demise, throwing in the face the council's lies_," Finnick recited, quirking an eyebrow. "The council's lies? You know what this is, what can save him. You know what this aurelian immunizer is, where it is and how it can help him!"

Katniss' heart soared at the thought of being able to save Peeta. She gently lowered him to the floor and ran to the top of the room to stand beside Finnick. "Do you? Do you know how to save him?" she asked. "Please save him, I'll do anything!"

Clove turned her nose up. "Why should we help him?" she asked. "Just because you couldn't kill him easily and are letting him bleed to death on the floor." She paused and took a giant sniff of the air. "God, he smells delicious."

"Hey!" Katniss snapped. "Leave off it!" The bleeding to death comment alarmed her and she turned on her heel to look at the debilitated boy on the floor. Madge saw the concerned look on her protege's face and slid to her knees beside the body. She took off the canvas bag that was slung over her shoulder and pulled out a small first aid kit, pulling out numerous bandages and medic tape.

"I'm going to wrap him up, okay?" she asked Katniss, who nodded her agreement. The blonde immediately set off to work, lifting Peeta's head and started to wrap a bandage around his neck. Madge's hands trembled as the blood started sticking to her skin, the urge to drink strong, but she fought past it. Katniss didn't know how to thank her mentor enough, greatful that she was on her side again.

"You know where it is," Finnick said. Katniss turned back around and clenched her fists. "If we use it then Katniss can turn him, he'll become a permanant fledging and we can give Katniss some as well and they can both be enternal."

Marvel scoffed. "Why would we want some troublemaker like Everdeen to become an eternal?"

An eternal was a fledging who stayed a fledging forever without the worry of the body clock killing them off in the end. They weren't common. In fact, very much extinct. Katniss had heard of them in brief passing over her years as a fledging but never in her entire life had she met one, or found out how an eternal was created. Because she hadn't read the Book Of Meredith cover to cover like Finnick had been forced to do.

"I'm not saying you have to want anything," Finnick said. "I'm saying that you know where it is and that you're going to tell us."

"Or what?" Clove demanded.

Katniss, unable to listen to the stupid silly banter while Peeta could very well be dying on the floor, lost it. She snatched a bottle of holy water out of Finnick's belt. As quick as a flash, she jumped into the air, pushing her feet back so she was propelled forward, and landed on Glimmer's throne. Both of her orange converse sneakers mounted the arms of the blonde's chair, trapping the woman back into the plush cushions. Katniss grabbed a fistful of gold hair and used it to drag her up the chair.

"Or I kill her," she hissed. She unscrewed the bottle with her teeth and spat the top out, holding the nozzle up at Glimmer's neck. The fumes made the girl scream in pain. "Tell us were this aurelian immunizer is or you die blondie."

To Katniss' chargin, Glimmer looked amused. "I have lived for a thousand years, why should I care about dying now?" she asked.

"Please!" Katniss yelled, "Tell me!"

"Figure it out on your own," Clove hissed.

"Go on," Glimmer said. "Kill me."

Katniss held the bottle of holy water over Glimmer's head, hand trembling, trying to work up the courage to pour it. There was something stopping her though, like someone pulling a string to keep her arm from tipping. She couldn't do it. Her mind and body would have been laboured with the knowledge that she murdered on of her own species.

"God damn it," she cursed, throwing the bottle down. "Just tell me, please. Why are you doing this to us!"

"He's fading," Madge called from behind the room. Marvel chuckled, causing Katniss' head to whip to face him with a burning glare that could stop a clock. The career was smiling. Not in a smug way like Glimmer or Clove. But in a kind way that Katniss didn't understand.

He held his palm out flat, and the Book of Meredith appearing in his palm, appearing in a sudden puff of smoke. "Why don't you read, and try to find it youself? Turn the boy and you'll have the same amount of time as him to die. You're lovers, around the same age. If you bite him, then there's the exact extent of time together before you drop."

"Wrong!" Madge yelled. "To turn him Katniss would have to finishing drinking him to finish off the turning process. Therefore turning her full vampire. If that happens she shall live forever if they fail to find it and Peeta would die."

Marvel smiled as if what Madge had just said was an incohearant sentence strung together by a toddler. "Here, take this," he threw a vial at Katniss, who swiftly caught it. "Give the kid that and his blood will turn null and void. Leaving you still a fledging once you drink him. Consider it a gift."

Katniss eyed the yellow liquid inside the vial nervously. "What's the catch?" she asked.

Marvel shrugged. "No catch. Just don't ask for anything else." He held out the book to Katniss with an approving smirk.

Clove looked horrified. "Marvel, don't!" she hissed.

"Oh do shut up Clove," Marvel said. "They deserve a chance. Just because Cato ran out on you doesn't mean other people shouldn't be given the chance for love." Clove closed her mouth as soon as the word 'Cato' passed Marvel's lips. The girl didn't speak at all after that.

Katniss apprehensively took the book. It was a thousand page leather bound book with a celtic 'M' woven on the front cover. The council's copy was much more fancy than the handheld copies the fledglings were given. "T-thank you Marvel."

"Oh don't get sentimental," snapped Marvel. He clicked his fingers and red smoke suddenly exploded around the three thrones. When it cleared and Katniss looked down, Glimmer was gone. So was Marvel. And so was Clove. They'd escaped. She slipped onto the throne, book and vial in her hands. She curled up and hugged her knees.

"What do we do now?" Katniss whispered.

"We need to find the aurelian immunizer," Finnick said. "Give me the book." Katniss handed him the book and immediately the bronze haired man started reading it.

"Katniss," Madge whispered. The tone of voice Madge used made Katniss straightened up in worry. The blonde's eyes were sparkling with tears and she gestured at Peeta's body. "He . . . he's gone."

"What?!" cried Katniss, stumbling across the room. She fell onto her knees beside Peeta and straddled his lap. Her ear landed right beside his heart, where there should have been a heart beat but instead was an eerie silence. "No!" She pulled Peeta's mouth open, pinched his nose and blew into it before pulling back and pounding on his heart.

"Katniss-" Madge said.

"No!" Katniss threw her mouth back over his, desperately pushing all the oxygen she could gather into him.

"Katniss-" repeated Madge as Katniss pounded his heart again.

"I can do it!" Katniss screamed. Tears were spurting out of her eyes, falling down her cheeks and hitting Peeta's lifeless face.

"Katniss, he's gone-"

"No, he's fucking not!" roared Katniss. She fell ontop of Peeta's body and softly kissed his lips. "Come on," she whispered. "Please wake up." When he didn't respond-dead pulse, stopped heart, non-existant breath. Katniss was at the end of her tether. Knowing the evitable was about it happen, she pushed herself up slightly and softly caressed his cold cheek. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Not stopping to over think it, Katniss ripped open the lid of the yellow liquid and slipped it into his mouth, lifting his head up to make sure it all slid down his throat correctly. She didn't stop to consider that maybe Marvel had been lying, that maybe the yellow serum was some sort of poison. The only thing on her mind was saving Peeta's life so that he wouldn't die.

She slowly unraveled the bandage around his neck.

"Katniss, think about what you're doing," warned Madge.

"My life is over without him," Katniss said shakily as she threw the bandage away.

"You barely knew him Katniss." The use of past tense, as if he was truely gone, made a knot of hurt form in Katniss' stomach. It made her choke on a sob, putting the back of her hand up to her mouth to muffle it. "Please Katniss, just let him rest-"

"I may barely know him," Katniss said in a low voice. "But my life hadn't truely begun until I met him. And if he's gone, I'll be dead inside." Not waiting for Madge's response, she pushed herself up to sit on Peeta's stomach and lowered herself down to lay on his chest. "Come back to me," she whispered tenderly before biting back into the fang marks she'd previously left on his neck.

His blood probably tasted the same. The usual AB negative taste that drove every vampire wild, but to Katniss it tasted bitter. Because she knew what she was doing, that maybe it wouldn't work now that his heart had stopped and she may have just been rubbing it in by drinking his blood.

When it was all gone, Katniss pulled away. Her fangs dripped of blood so red it almost looked black. Peeta looked awful with no blood left in him. His face was sunken in, his cheekbones prominant and limbs thin. The sight of this panicked Katniss. She held her wrist up to her lips and bit into it, holding back her yelp of pain, and held the wound over Peeta's mouth. Her hand tightened around her wrist, letting drips of her own blood slip out of the wounds and onto his tongue.

And waited.

She waited, sitting on his stomach heavily, her chest heaving as she gasped for breath. Madge watched and so did Finnick, both standing off to the side as Katniss sat over Peeta's body, willing him to come back to her. She barely noticed as her blood slid down her wrist and pooled around the floor. She was too focused waiting for Peeta to wake up.

"Please come back to me," she begged, her voice hoarse. "Please." The boy remained lifeless, eyes peacefully shut and mouth parted after breathing his last breath. "Come on please!" Katniss held his face in her hands and kissed his forehead. And his cheeks. And his lips. Her tears slid down her face, wetting Peeta's face as well as her own.

Katniss' heart sank when he didn't respond to her pleading, and she fell down ontop of him. Her ear rested on his chest, where there should have been the constant beating rythmn but there wasn't. "You said always," she whimpered. "You told me real!"

_Cough_. His chest jumped. _Cough, choke._ Katniss pushed herself back up, looming over the boy's face.

"Peeta?" she whispered.

_Cough._ His face screwed up and his eyes fluttered.

"Oh my god, Peeta, come on, come back," she said. Her hands desperately palmed his face as if her touch alone could bring him back to her. "Please."

_Cough._ He groaned. "Katniss?"

"Peeta! Oh my god, you did it!" Katniss planted a sloppy kiss on his lips in relief. "You did it Peeta, you came back!"

"Couldn't keep me away," came the crooked reply. His eyes stayed shut but his chest was moving up and down again as he struggled to get his breath back. Katniss stroked his cheek as more tears fell from her eyes.

Then, it happened.

It was as if she had blinked but it in that millisecond Peeta changed. His face wasn't sunken anymore. His skin had turned pale-porcelin pale-amplifying the bright pink of his lips, and as Katniss sat ontop of him, his entire body flushed cold. So cold that it almost completely matched her own body temperature.

He'd changed.

He was a fledgling.

"Katniss?" Peeta whispered.

"Yes?" Katniss replied, smoothing his now glowing golden hair out of his eyes.

"I'm thirsty." He sounded almost scared, like he knew what she'd done to him. Katniss smiled, the same way Madge had done when she had first uttered those words to her, and did the exact thing she remembered her mentor doing to help her quench the thirst.

"Here," she said softly, holding her wounded wrist out to him and guiding his mouth to it. Almost hesitantly, he bit into it and sucked. It hurt, of course it did, but Katniss had experienced worse. The pain was overridden by the knowledge that she was feeding him.

When a human is first turned into a fledgling, they are constantly hungry, and the hardest thing, Madge had always said to Katniss, was stopping their protege from drinking for the first time. Katniss couldn't stop staring at Peeta as he sucked her blood almost desperately. It was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen.

"Peeta," she whispered, petting his hair. "Peeta, baby, you're going to have to stop." She took her arm away from him as gently as she could, wincing as his teeth pulled out. He whimpered in hunger but she muffled him by holding his head to her chest.

"What did you do to me?" he whispered.

"It's going to be okay," she said, ignoring the question. "Everything's going to be alright."

"Katniss, what did you do?"

"Sssh."

"Katniss-"

"Sssh."

His hands were tightly gripping her elbows, the hold tightening in desperation. "Tell me," he breathed.

Katniss smiled softly, in an almost daze, still stroking his hair lovingly. "I turned you," she said out loud for the first time. "You're a fledgling."

_A/N: Whelp, you guys got what you wanted. Peeta's fledgling! *Party!* :D_

_Please R&R! :-)_


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games_

Chapter Fifteen

"You did what?!"

"Peeta, hear me out, please," Katniss begged, standing up and pulling him to his feet. "You were dying, I had no choice. Actually, you were dead for like, five minutes, I couldn't leave you like that, I had to try-"

"So, what exactly? You've turned me and now you're a vampire? Are you safe now Katniss?" Peeta's eyes were burning, the sapphire in them blazing like a fire. Katniss couldn't help staring into them, wondering if her eyes were like that when she was turned. She stared at his eyes so long that he had to snap his fingers to bring her back.

"No," she said carefully. "I'm not . . . safe _per say._ And neither are you."

The fire was gone for a millisecond as he blinked before flaring back out. "What?"

Finnick and Annie took a step forward to try and help explain but Katniss held up a hand. Both nodded and sat down on the steps to the three empty thrones, resting the Book of Meredith on their laps and pouring over it, scanning the words to try and find how they were going to find the aurelian immunizer.

"Okay, let me explain," said Katniss. She took a step toward him but Peeta took a weary step back. Biting down on the hurt it made well up inside her, she held her hands up by her head in surrender, showing she wasn't going to move any closer. "I'm not a vampire, no. I'm still a fledgling. I gave you a serum or something that made your blood's affect on me null and void. I'm still a fledgling. And you're now one too."

"But why? What's the point if we're just back to square one?" asked Peeta. "Except now I'm in the same position as you. You should have just drank me Katniss, you know that's what I wanted."

"I couldn't do that and you know it," said Katniss through gritted teeth. "Could you have done it? If it was me, could you have drank me?"

"But that's not what's happening," Peeta replied.

"But what if it was? Could you kill me if I told you to?" Katniss insisted. "Please try and see it through my eyes!"

"So what now? We just sit and wait until we die?" Peeta asked.

"No," answered Katniss. "Finnick and Madge are searching the Book of Meredith for the aurelian immunizer. It's this thing that will turn us into eternals. Eternals are fledglings that can live forever until killed by another. Hopefully we'll find it in time . . ."

"If we don't?"

"We die together."

"Together?" Peeta asked, his eyes flashing.

"Together," she confirmed.

Katniss couldn't help but notice how the fire in his eyes kept getting brighter. At first she thought it was just a side effect of being a newborn fledgling but something about it was almost unnerving. "Madge, come here."

"Why? What is it?" Madge asked, not moving from the steps.

"When you turned me did my eyes glow?"

"No."

"Then get over here a second."

Madge approached them both and jumped as she saw Peeta's fire eyes. "Holy crap!" she exclaimed. She grabbed his chin and pulled his face toward hers. "Fascinating," she murmered. "Maybe it's a side effect from that stuff Marvel gave you to degrade his blood."

"Why? What's wrong?" Peeta asked, his voice wavering with worry.

"It's . . . ah . . . nothing," Madge replied, releasing his chin and stepping back. "It must just be a side effect. Or just maybe your special entity?"

"Special _what_?" Katniss exclaimed.

"Like when you developed the awesome ability to hit every target in your archery class after I turned you. That was your entity. Maybe his entity is like . . . fire eyes?"

"Wow really, what's yours?" Katniss asked.

Even now there was still so much she had to learn about everything. Just when she thought she knew it all _wham!_ She learned something else that toppled her over. "Gorgeous hair," Madge said simply. "Finnick got amazing looks."

"Not that I didn't have that before," Finnick called from the steps. Madge rolled her eyes and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I've never seen an entity so pronounced before," she said in awe. "Maybe it's because he's a newborn . . . ?"

"Hello?" Peeta said, waving his hand. "Still in the room and completely lost." The blue fire had dimmed again, disappearing everytime his lids shut when he blinked, but the glow reflected off his hair and sent shadows down his cheekbones and jaw. Katniss still couldn't look away.

"Your eyes are burning blue. Nothing to worry about," Katniss said. "Apparently anyway."

"She's right. What we need to worry about right now is keeping you well fed," Madge said. "The first few hours are the most important. Finnick, you got a shot?" Finnick nodded, his head deep inside the book, and tossed a small plastic vial to Madge, who swiftly caught it. She handed it to Peeta. "Here, drink this."

"What is it?" Peeta took the vial and eyed the blood inside it wearily.

"You're a fledgling, what do you think it is?" Madge scoffed. "It's blood."

"I'm not drinking blood!"

"Oh Jesus Christ," Madge said. "Don't be like Katniss, please. We don't have time for it. You've already took some of Katniss' blood so don't be a-"

"I did _what_?"

"Oh my god, look." Madge took Katniss' bleeding wrist and shoved it toward Peeta.

Bad idea.

"God Katniss, did I do that to you?" he exclaimed, taking her wrist and softly tracing the holes in her skin. The bleeding wasn't as heavy, the cuts only oozing the occasional drop of scarlet.

"No! Lord no! I bit myself," Katniss said. "I just let you suck some out."

"Katniss you told me that fledglings didn't drink blood."

"Normal fledglings don't. You're a newborn," Katniss said. "Newborns have to drink for at least the first 48 hours since being turned. Even I had to. It's just not a time I like to think about. Please, just take the blood in the vial, it'll be okay, I promise." Peeta still looked hesitant but Katniss could see how desperate he was to drink. "I can see how you're looking at it, please just do it."

"It happens to the best of us," Madge said, unscrewing the top and putting it in his hand. Katniss nodded encouragingly.

"You swear that nothing will go wrong?"

"I swear."

Taking one last worried look at Katniss, Peeta steeled himself and downed the vial. Katniss watched as it disappeared down his throat, remembering her first 48 hours as a fledgling . . .

_"I know you're scared sweetie," the blonde woman who'd helped her whispered, petting her head affectionately. "But you need to drink this."_

_"W-why?" A thirteen year old Katniss whimpered. She still ached from the attack the previous night, and all she wanted to do was sleep. The blonde lady wouldn't let her though._

_"It will help you get better," the blonde insisted. "It's . . . cranberry juice."_

_"I don't like cranberries."_

_The woman clenched her jaw and leaned back upright. "Finnick, this isn't working!" she yelled. Katniss flinched, bedraggled strands of hair falling into her eyes. She was dizzy from having lost so much blood and was scared to death of who these people were. _

_A man with bronze hair appeared in the dark doorway, and she cowered back more in fear. "Are you being gentle Madge?" he asked._

_"As much as my patience will let me Finnick," the blonde woman-supposedly Madge-replied through gritted teeth. The man Katniss assumed was Finnick moved to the two girls sitting on the floor and crouched down beside Madge. "Are you okay, petal?" he asked Katniss in a soft voice. The girl was immediately soothed and she found herself nodding._

_"That's good. Are you thirsty?" he asked._

_Katniss once again found herself nodding._

_"Here, then drink this. Madge was kidding, it's not cranberries. It's made from the freshiest of strawberries. Do you like strawberries?" asked Finnick. Katniss nodded. "Then here. It'll taste nice, I promise." Katniss hesitantly took the vial. She'd had the talk about not excepting food and drink from strangers but she'd just been raped. Her mind wasn't working properly. What did it matter anyway if it was drugged? How could things get any worse?_

_She took a small sip. It wasn't delicious, in fact it was disgusting, but she drank the rest in one long gulp, unsure why she felt that she had to. It was like she knew it would make her better. Like when you consume a disgusting medicine, knowing it does good to your body instead of evil. The drink made her feel stronger. She didn't hurt as much anymore. Madge seemed relieved that she decided to listen and drink the stuff while Finnick just smiled and patted her on the back._

_"Didn't I tell you it'd taste nice?" he said. Katniss nodded, not wanting to admit that it was bitter and tasteless._

_"You're one of us now," said Madge with an almost malicious grin. "You're invincible."_

Peeta choked on the blood, his face screwing up indistaste. "That's awful," he croaked, struggling to swallow it all. "How can you drink that constantly? It's vile." Madge laughed and took the empty plastic contanier back and slipping it into her pocket. Katniss finally remembered to tend to the wounds on her wrist, grabbing one of the spare bandages and wrapping it around herself.

"Vile?" Madge chuckled. "Blood doesn't taste right until you drink your sire. Which, of course is Katniss. But Katniss no longer has mortal blood which means you'll probably never find out what good blood tastes like. Fledgling blood tastes just as sucky as pre-sire blood." She shrugged. "Too bad. I want to say you're not missing out on nothing but . . ."

"You are," Finnick said from the back of the room.

Peeta chewed his lip in deep thought before shrugging. "I think I'll survive."

"You will," Katniss assured. She held his eyes for a moment before diverting hers away, unable to handle how bright they were. "God, my eyes are stinging." She rubbed them and blinked a couple of times.

"Okay, first order of business, _sunglasses_," Madge said, clapping Peeta on the back. "You coming Finnick?"

"Yeah," replied Finnick, getting up but not looking away from the book. He was reading pretty fast, his hands flying through the pages only lingering for a second before turning. Madge slipped her hand between his face and the book, clicking her fingers to catch his attention. Finnick's head snapped up, his eyes dazed in shock before shaking his head and grinning. "Sorry, what are we doing?"

"Getting Katniss' protege some sunglasses because his entity is fire eyes," Madge said. "And he's blinding everyone."

"Does anyone have a mirror? I need to see this," said Peeta. Madge grinned and tossed him a compact mirror from her jeans pocket. When he took a look at his reflection in the mirror, Peeta made a face.

"Well I'll be damned," he said. "That's not worrying at all."

"While we're in town, we should go to the hospital and stock up on blood," Finnick suggested. "We don't want blondie over there going rogue on us just because he can't drink." Finnick frowned. "I'm sorry, being in that cell has messed up my head, what's your name again?"

"Peeta," Peeta frowned.

"Yes, that's it!" he said. "Sorry!"

Madge's eyebrows knitted together in a confused grimace. "Are you alright Finnick?" she asked.

"What? Yeah. Come on now, let's go." Finnick strode on ahead, leaving two baffled girls and a still completely frazzled, lost and confused boy behind. Madge was the first to move, running up behind him and falling into step beside him. Katniss could see her talking to him, probably grilling him for answers on his sudden memory loss.

Katniss turned to Peeta, who raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you alright?" she asked. "I know how startling everything can be as a newborn. We're just sort of throwing you into this and expecting you to roll with the punches. Everything's so dire, I'm sorry we can't give you the quiet 48 hour period you need."

"I feel fine," Peeta replied. "Almost completely normal. Apart from looking in the mirror and seeing glowing eyes of course but . . . you know . . . as long as I can't see it it's fine."

Katniss wanted to tell him that that was great, that feeling normal was okay and that the only way was up in the next 48 hours. Except that would be a lie. The point of the first 48 hours of being a fledgling is that you're supposed to stay sucluded and confined so that you didn't cause damage to yourself or anyone else. But there wasn't time for that.

And the only way wasn't up in the next 48 hours.

The only way was down.

Because, eventually, he'd get hungry again.

And Katniss, as his mentor, would have to help him.

And she still wasn't sure how she was going to do it.

_A/N: Please R&R! :D :D_


End file.
